Past In Present
by Raphael Fitchburne
Summary: True Self sequel! Rock is pulled in hell once more. After almost a year of trying to live a normal life, he realizes that he is not suited for it. He decides to embrace his true self, again, and goes to find the place where he truly belongs. Chap 28 up!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Black Lagoon.

**Note: **This is a work of fiction. You may find names here that exist in reality, but, if ever, they are purely coincidental. Mostly, elements of this story came from my imagination.

**Part 1:** Blood Festival

Chapter 1: Reload

Rock had changed. Walking briskly down one of the most crowded streets of New York City, in his business suit, eyes behind thick-rimmed, rectangular glasses, he looked like some politician. It was already seven-thirty. He needed to be in Mr. Robins' office at eight. He glanced at his watch and realized how late he already was. He ran through the crowd, cursing.

It was eight-o-five when he arrived at the Crest Bach Tower. He kept running until he reached the lobby. When he was there, he stopped for a while, looking around to find an available elevator. He saw one filled with people in business attires; some looking at their watches, reading broadsheets. Others were impatiently waiting for the door to close. He needed to catch it.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered. Then he sprinted towards the elevator.

The doors of the elevator started to close.

"Shit!" he hissed.

He increased his speed. Fortunately, before the doors closed, he managed to insert his arm between them. The doors parted. He forced his way through the passengers. He settled at the back.

He looked around. Everyone was indifferent to him. That was the business world, alright. Mind your own business. Actually, he was getting tired of it.

Some seconds later, the elevator reached the thirty-second floor.

He jogged his way to Mr. Robins' office. He passed through the "Prairie", as he affectionately called it—the area of desks, flat-screen monitors, balding men, and scowling women. Some workers greeted him, but most of them ignored him, especially the ones who coveted his position. He didn't care. Being lucky is seasonal. It was his season. However, it was now rapidly ending. Like today, if he didn't come up with a great alibi, his head would roll out of the building.

He reached the Office of the CEO.

"Alright, time to steel myself." He opened the door and entered in.

There was a man. The man's head was bald on top. The man was fat—and short—like Mr. Penguin in Batman. Geez, they look alike, Rock thought.

The man swiveled around, put his elbows on the desk, put his hands together, thumbs to the tip of his nose, and sighed.

"G-good morning, Mr. Robins," Rock said.

"Mr. Peter Lane," Mr. Robins said. "You are fifteen minutes late."

Rock could only sigh.

…

It was two in the afternoon, now. Rock had finished his tasks for the day faster by two hours. After the headache-inducing lecture Mr. Robins had given him, his brain had worked unusually faster. Now, he was planning to go grab a bite. He had yet to have lunch. He had deliberately missed it to show that he had been sincere on making it up to his boss. He started for Okinawa, his favorite restaurant. It was Japanese.

Rock walked in the little establishment that was situated in the "inside," a place no normal corporate guy would go into. There were a lot of customers, as usual. Seventy percent of them were Japanese, no children allowed. (Except when you have money. When you pay for it, children are not children.) Sixty percent of the whole were men. The remaining forty were women obviously attracted to him—he always saw the same faces, watching him as he walked to his seat. He walked by Omura, the bouncer who always had his katana on his belt.

"How are you, Omura?" he said.

"Fine," Omura snorted.

"Good."

He went to a table that was far from the window. He ordered a bowl of ramen, as usual.

…

Out on the street, a pretty, blonde girl was running. Her blue eyes reflected terror. The right sleeve of her dress had been torn, the side of her mouth was smeared with lipstick, and she had no shoes. While she ran, she simultaneously looked behind her and searched for some place to hide. She was obviously tired.

People she passed by just looked at her. No one wanted to care. Some even had contempt thrown at her. (_Hey, a slut is running from her customers, again. Look! Look! _) It couldn't be helped. She looked like a prostitute with her attire.

She reached the crossing. The red light for the pedestrians was still on. She wished she could flick a wand at it and turn it green. She almost cried at the idea. Nervously, she peeked a glance behind her—not a sight of her pursuers—then back at the signal light, again.

"Come on, come on," she said, as she stomped at the pavement. She glanced behind her once more. Suddenly, her eyes widened. The two black men who had been pursuing her were already near. "Shit!"

"Fuck! There's the bitch!" she heard one yell.

"Holy…come on!" said the other.

The girl couldn't wait any longer. She took the right corner. When she reached another corner, she turned towards it. There she found the Okinawa restaurant. Her face brightened up. She rushed inside the small establishment.

Panting, she looked around. The place was filled with people, but only two heads cared to turn in her direction. Even Omura didn't mind. She looked for a table. Nothing was available. All had already been occupied. She tried another swift sweep. At the corner most part, the place far from the window, she found a table only a man was occupying. The man with the glasses looked kind. She decided to approach the table. As she came, the man slowly raised his head. She was astounded at how young he looked like despite the glasses and the suit. He looked like her age. And cute, she thought.

"Excuse me, can I sit here?" she asked.

The man hesitated for a while. Then he said, "Sure. Help yourself."

"Thank you."

While watching the man eat, her stomach grumbled. The man glanced up at her. She looked away, blushing.

…

Rock continued to eat. However, he didn't stop on observing her. Torn sleeve, smeared lipstick, and a restless expression—she surely was in an unfavorable situation. He decided not to get involved.

From the corner, Hidoshi, the over-all manager, came to his table.

"What is your order, ma'am?" Hidoshi asked.

"Uh…nothing. I'll leave soon," the girl said.

Hidoshi grimaced. "You're just here to kill time?"

"I'm sorry. Don't worry, I'll not be long."

"We accept beggars here as long as they have money. Sorry, this place is no waiting place for people who have none. Omura!"

The girl panicked. "Please give me even ten minutes!"

Omura came behind her. The big, emotionless man grasped her arm.

"Oh, please, mister," she pleaded, "even only for a while."

"No. This is business. You are disturbing my customers with your appearance. You don't have money so our policy can't protect you. Omura, throw her out!"

"Please, mister, just for ten minutes! I'll leave immediately afterwards. Please!"

"No!" Hidoshi waved at Omura to go on. Omura started to pull her away.

Rock got irritated by the commotion. "One bowl of ramen for her, Hidoshi. Let her go, Omura."

Hidoshi's expression changed in an instant. "Now, that's better. Omura, let her go."

Omura promptly obeyed. He let the girl go and walked back to his post as if nothing had happened. The girl just stood crying where Omura had left her.

"How about you, Mr. Lane?" Hidoshi asked, grinning.

"Just get the goddamn food, okay?" he said.

Hidoshi panicked. "Y-yes, yes, Mr. Lane! Hey, one Okinawa ramen! Make it fast! Y-you'll have your order soon, sir. Excuse me." He walked away, hastily.

Rock sighed. "Please, miss, have a seat."

…

She didn't move. Why would she? She should not trust anyone so easily. She didn't know what this man was planning. What if he asked for something in return, something like—

Her thoughts were interrupted when the man suddenly stood up. She wanted to step back but she couldn't. He was emitting a strong gravitational pull towards her. The hairs on her body stood up when he held her hand. She was sure she was blushing, so sure about it she wanted to snatch away her hand and shrink in embarrassment. Her heart was making her throat dry. Oh, God, she wanted to faint. Who was this man? How could he make her feel like that? Could he be the devil? The king of deception?

As she was being led by the stranger, she got into a conclusion. _Yeah. This was what my grandma used to tell me. When you are feeling uneasy with a stranger, look behind him. Make sure there is no tail. If there's none, then you're in a state called infatuation._

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Nicole

The two black men reached the corner to Okinawa. They were both panting from running back and forth through the "inside's" alleys, trying to find the blonde girl.

"Where did she go?" Elijah said, breathing hard, crouching over his knees.

"Fuck, she's gone," James said.

Elijah looked around and found the Okinawa. "Hey," he said. "We've been passing through here but we completely missed that place. Say we check it out."

James swirled to it. "Where?"

"That restaurant."

James considered for a time. "No." He shook his head. "That ain't no place for penniless people. It would just be a waste of time."

"You sure?"

"Fucking sure. I've been in that place before. Anyone who enters in there without cash gets thrown out a vegetable or made into dog food. The samurai guy in there is pretty cold. She should've been lying dead by now if she went in that place. That slut has nothing but rag-clothes."

Elijah straightened up. "Man, what are we gonna do now?"

"I don't know. You did this on your own, anyway, so I don't care."

"But, James, help me out here, man! We are buddies, right?"

"I'm not involved in anything regarding this incident."

"Fuck," Elijah said. "So you're turning your back on me, now, huh?"

"You'd taken your task too lightly. It's not a matter of turning my back on whomever. Elijah, you lost something very important to the brotherhood."

"Yes, I know that! Damn!" Elijah almost wanted to cry in fear. "It was that bitch's fault! When I see her…damn it! Damn it!" He stomped on the ground.

"I know one solution, though."

Elijah looked at James. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Elijah brightened up. "Oh, man, I can really count on—"

"Die." Swiftly, James took out his silenced gun and shot Elijah in the head. Elijah's head was thrown back from the impact of the bullet, sending him sprawling dead over his own brain. "If I keep you alive, you'll only put me in trouble. You might die, anyway. It's a buddy gift I made it fast." Casually, James walked away.

…

Rock got tired of waiting when she would eat. "Eat it before it gets cold," he said.

She didn't respond, even look at him.

He sighed. "Hey, miss, I want you to know that I hate wasting food—"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you," she said in a low voice.

"It's all right. Eat it and I'll forgive you."

He saw her take a glance at him, but she swiftly took it back. "W-why did you help me?"

_You said it yourself. You bothered me, _he thought of replying, but settled for, "Weren't you pleading to stay?"

Her redness deepened a little. His eyes, which were very sensitive to color differences, saw it. "You knew I wasn't asking for your help," she said.

"It makes no difference. Now eat."

"Listen, I don't have anything to repay you. If you're thinking that I would—"

"Eat. Please. Just eat." He was getting impatient.

She ignored him. "That I would pay with my body—"

Rock scoffed, interrupting her. "What?" He laughed.

The girl sat straight and frowned at him. "What's so funny?"

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen. And what about that?"

"You're eighteen? Yes, you're eighteen." He laughed, briefly. "Did you think I might like to lay with someone as young as you? You're just a kid. Come on. Give this one to me and eat. Just eat."

Instead of being relieved, she seemed to take offense at what he had said. "Are you being sarcastic with me?"

"Eh? That should be something subjective, shouldn't it?"

"Yes, you are being sarcastic with me!" she exclaimed.

Rock, avoiding further argument, just stared at her. Now, left without anything to say, he thought she would realize that she was making a fool out of herself. The crowd had been showing some interest in them, already. He hid a smile of victory from her. That is the power of not telling your name before a stranger that easily, he thought. She did realize what he was trying to make her realize.

She blushed further. Now, he couldn't hide a triumphant grin. Getting a pair of chopsticks from the porcelain glass, he clamped a chunk of meat from the ramen bowl, leaned over, pinched her nose, and fed her.

"Isn't it good?" he said, smiling.

As she chewed, she was glaring at him. Looking at her deep, blue eyes, he was suddenly reminded of the blue seas he had once cruised…and Revy. He shook his head after discovering that Revy and the girl before her had something in common: the pride not to be taken too lightly.

"The ramen here has been my favorite food for the past eight months. As you can see, I'm Asian. So, what do you think of it?" he went on.

"Hmp!" She snatched the chopsticks from his hand and pulled the bowl of ramen closer to her.

_Yeah. She's a kid, all right._ He had to stop himself from messing up her golden hair before it was too late. She was just that cute for him that he wanted to do that.

She drank water after she finished her bowl of ramen. Rock saw that she had liked it more than she was letting on. He decided to tease her a little.

"You ate your ramen twice as fast as I did," he said.

It affected her. "So?"

"Nothing." Rock pulled out a napkin from its holder and drenched it with the water from his glass. He handed it over to Nicole. "Here. Clean your face." He pointed the left corner of his mouth. "You have lipstick here."

"No, thanks. I'll just go to the CR."

"I strongly discourage that. Comfort rooms here are beyond nasty. Here, take this. It's not that big, anyway. You can clean it with this."

He saw suspicion in her eyes that made him feel awkward.

"You think I'm a prostitute, aren't you?" she said. Reluctantly, she took the wet napkin and began rubbing the smeared lipstick on the side of her lips.

_Yes. I thought so in the first place. _He was about to tell this until he decided it would be better not to. He didn't want to make her feel more uncomfortable with him. He just silently watched as she made the stain fade from her skin.

"Here's your bill, Mr. Lane," Hidoshi said.

Rock was somewhat startled at the manager's sudden appearance. He chided himself for that. Not that he didn't want to act all that normal, but to be sneaked up on was quite disquieting for an ex-assassin like him. Anyhow, he entertained him and took out his wallet. He rummaged through the paper bills and took out a fifty dollar.

"Hey," he said. "Give this girl a pair of slippers with my change."

Hidoshi's eyes twinkled. The two ramen bowls only cost a dollar and twenty-five cents, and Rock knew that the greedy manager could give a pair of slippers that cost nothing.

"Sure, sure!" Hidoshi said in excitement. He snatched the bill off Rock's hand. Then, he left them to get what had been asked of him.

Rock looked at his watch. He had been there for an hour, now, longer than his usual stay.

The girl stopped wiping her face. "Did I remove it all?"

"Ummm…there's still a faint color but it'll do."

"Good." She put down the napkin.

He pushed away his chair. "Well, that was a nice meal. I should be going, now."

"Do we need to part as strangers?"

"Oh, yes, I forgot to introduce myself." He offered his hand. "I'm Peter Lane." He saw her raise one eyebrow and knew what she was thinking. "I was born here. My father was an American. My mother was Japanese but hated Japan as much as I like it. She didn't want me patronizing anything that was Japanese, even names."

"Oh." She took his hand, finally. "I'm Nicole Greene."

He smiled. "Pleased to meet you."

"Same here."

"Hidoshi will bring you some slippers. Just wait for him here."

"Okay. Thank you very much."

Before taking off, he reached for his wallet and took out a one hundred dollar bill.

"Here," he said. "Buy yourself some new clothes. Sluttish clothing doesn't suit you."

She eyed him in a defensive way. He thought he could hear what she was thinking with only that. "Let me clear this to you. I don't think you are a prostitute," he went on. "I hate to compliment someone, but a cute girl like you will never make me believe she is one. I would hate to accept it even if it was true." He smiled, took her hand, and put the money in it. "See you."

…

She hardly noticed that he had already left. She only found herself back in reality when he was already at the door. She swirled to say something, but he was out before she could open her mouth. Having nothing left but to let herself on the seat, again, she muttered, "A cute girl like me…" She couldn't help smiling.

She was thinking about him when Hidoshi arrived with her slippers—actually, they were a pretty pair of white sandals.

"Here you are, miss," Hidoshi said with a forced smile.

Irritated by his presence, she stood up and snatched the sandals.

"You're lucky, girl. Mr. Lane seldom entertains women like you. He is a straight guy," Hidoshi followed up.

"Yeah, this might be my lucky day, alright. But…" she paused, dramatically. "This is your unlucky day!" Swiftly, she kicked Hidoshi in the crotch. He squeaked. She saw how his eyes bulged out from their sockets and how his color faded away. Having enjoyed it, she ran towards the door and got out before Omura noticed what was happening.

Outside, she saw a crowd at the corner she had taken before she found Okinawa. There were four policemen and some people from the press. While speculating what could have happened, she busied herself in putting the sandals on. She finished, stood up, considered the idea of her taking a look, and then shrugged it off. What would be the use? She took the opposite direction and walked away.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Good Start with Shitty Ending

Six weeks later…

It was a hot day in Roanapur. And, in a certain dock, the Black Lagoon Company had a mission. They had been hired to get the Original Certificate of Proprietorship of the Compostella Ranch, a large livestock ranch in Davao del Norte in Mindanao, Philippines. The transaction had been set in a luxury cruise ship. The real owners of the ranch, who had been double-crossed by their own partners, had asked Mr. Chan, a very close friend, to hire Black Lagoon for the job.

Revy had the certificate now in between her teeth. She was running away from goons who were shooting at her. The ship was huge that it seemed like a small town. It had been four minutes now since she had got the paper, but she still couldn't get off to safety.

"Hey, stop shooting her in fatal points!" said a bearded goon. "If blood stained the paper, it would never be accepted by the boss. Aim for her legs!"

"Yes!"

Revy reached the nose of the ship. There was a thick chain that connected it to the dock. Having found her way out, she turned around, and then threw a grenade at her pursuers.

"Have a nice trip to hell!" she said, grinning.

She jumped and used the thick chain as bridge to the dock. As she got her feet on solid ground, her grenade exploded. She didn't waste time to watch the debris from that explosion. She immediately ran to meet with Benny.

The meeting place was located in the last block for the Taiwanese crates. It was forty yards from the dock. She reached it on time, but Benny wasn't there, yet.

"Fuck!" she said. She heard shots from behind her. They were now going to kill her, the paper retrieved or not.

She took out her twin cutlass. She made a fast one hundred and twenty degrees swirl and fired at the first heads she saw. As she did this, she sidestepped towards an area where a crate should have been. When she reached that hiding spot, she had already shot seven of her pursuers dead.

Then she heard an incoming automobile. Benny was coming.

"Damn this snail!"

A red, roofless Ford Mustang pulled up. Benny smiled at her.

"Hop in!" he said.

She stood up, unpinned the last of her grenades, threw it to her pursuers, and then leaped up to the front seat. Just before the explosion, Benny took off. Then boom!

Revy let go of the paper that was slightly soaked with her saliva. "You fucking blonde! Did you want to kill me?"

"Sorry! Heavy traffic!"

"Traffic your ass! They almost got me! If you ever try to do this again, I'll gonna fill your box with fucking assholes!"

"Yes, ma'am. This boy's gonna remember that."

Suddenly, a bullet hit the side mirror on Revy's side.

"What the fuck…" Revy looked behind. A gray pickup was tailing them. Goons filled the pickup with their bulks and guns. A guy had his pistol out the window and was firing at them. "How the hell did they fucking get a fucking car?"

"Ummm…they fucked the fucking car owner?"

Instead of being annoyed of Benny doing smart mouthing, she reacted otherwise. She smiled. "Oh, so you've already learned some f-words, after all. That has given me some push. Fucking drive straight!" Revy got up and faced the tailing pickup, aiming her babies at it. "Say hello to mommy." She started shooting.

Her bullets accurately hit her target, which was the driver. She hadn't wasted a single bullet at anything but to that man. The pickup started to swivel and then ended up crashing to a crate.

"So long, fuckers!" Revy's face changed expression. Just as the tailing pickup got on fire, another pickup, now black, showed up to tail them. "Won't they ever give up?"

"What?" Benny asked.

Revy took her seat. "I don't want to waste no more bullets. Another car showed up."

"Eh?" Benny checked it out. "Yeah. Say we give up."

"Your choice. I'm running out of bullets, anyway."

"Let me analyze this," Benny said. Then, when he found a corner to turn to, he brightened up. "Nope. We still have a chance. Hold tight! Let's lure them into a rat race."

Benny shifted to the fastest gear. The pickup behind got faster as well. Then, with accuracy and precision, Benny steered to the right. The Mustang almost flipped over to the left, but it managed landing safely on all fours with Benny's magnificent wheel techniques.

"Whoa! I'm glad I was addicted to Need for Speed when I was in high school!" he blurted out.

"You've almost thrown me away," Revy muttered.

"That's why I said to fasten your seat belt."

"You said hold tight!"

"Well, at least, I didn't say it in French."

As they passed the fifteenth crate, they heard a loud sound. It was the pickup. It had hit the crate in the corner and lost a door. It managed to stay on track, but they were so far away from it, now. Benny could even relax to second gear.

However, a car suddenly appeared over two hundred meters away from them. A man got out from the backseat with an RPG launcher on one shoulder. Without hesitation, the man fired it to them.

"Damn it!" Benny exclaimed.

Revy got up from her seat. She was very serious. Aiming her guns at the RPG, she began shooting. The RPG would hit them in less than ten seconds. Revy focused all her senses into it. Nine…eight…seven…the RPG was still coming. Benny's eyes were bulging now, his face all white and sticky with sweat. Six…five…four…Revy was screaming now. Three…Boom! She hit it. Iron fragments flew all around. The Mustang's hood and windshield caught a lot of them.

"It's your turn, Benny!"

Benny looked ready for revenge. "You're damn right! You pay high for scaring the hell out of Benny!"

Benny shifted to the fourth gear. The Mustang shot out of the smoke like a bullet. The meter showed a hundred and twenty KPH. The car in front of them hastily took off without waiting for the man who held the launcher to get in. But it was too late. The Mustang hit the tail of the car, lifting it over upside down, and the man, who flew to a crate on the side. The man was crushed like an overripe tomato thrown on a wall. Benny lost control on the wheels for a moment, but he recovered it, easily.

Revy got up, turned around, and gave them the finger. "So long, fuckers!" She sat back. "That's what you call excellent driving."

"Yeah. And that's the third man I killed since Rock…" He caught himself. He worriedly glanced at Revy.

Revy turned glum. "Fuck."

"When we get home, I will chug a barrel of ale," he said, trying to change the topic. But Revy was far from him, already. Revy, despite being back to herself where she considered love and God as only "emotional bullshit," hadn't gotten over Rock, yet.

When they got back in their apartment, Revy immediately took a shower. Benny stayed quiet all that time.

At seven-thirty Dutch came back. Revy was lying on the couch while Benny was playing solitaire on the floor.

"Mr. Chan gave me a bonus for the good job. He said he wanted us in his mansion to celebrate," the ex-navy said.

"I've been waiting for that," Benny said.

"How about you, Revy?"

"I'll pass. I want to sleep."

Dutch stared at her for a while. "All right," he said. "Come on, Benny. If you change your mind, you know where to find us."

"Yeah." She turned her back on them.

Dutch looked at Benny. Benny shrugged. Dutch knew what that gesture meant. Shaking his head, he led Benny out the room.

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Genesis

Balalaika had finished reading one of the longest reports she had ever read. It had taken her almost twelve hours just to finish it. It was an annual report about the routes and their business progress located in the South China Sea. Right now, she was relaxing in her chair, smoking her cigar and watching the chandelier inside her office. She wasn't thinking of anything in particular. Just watching for the sake of watching.

Then knocks came from the door. These interrupted her thoughts. She shifted on her seat.

"Come in," she said.

She saw the man with the familiar cold face with the long slanted scar open the door and walk in.

"What is it, Sergeant?"

"Mr. Monroe sent a message. He wanted us in New York this coming Christmas eve," Boris said.

"Oh. What a surprise!" She smiled. "So, the king finally noticed the small hotel. Send words to our comrades. We will be spending Christmas with Liberty."

"As you wish, Kapitan."

…

The White Flag was rowdy as always, full of underground people: pirates, drug dealers, gangsters, fugitives, etc. At the bar, Benny and Dutch were having their drinks. Dutch had just called Mr. Chan to say that they couldn't come. The Triad Boss had forgiven them and said that he also had something unexpected that came up, so it could have been the same both ways. Dutch was having Bull Beer while Benny settled for Scotch.

"Revy seemed to be in glum mode, again. What happened on the way?" Dutch asked.

"I forgot myself and mention Rock's name."

"His name is a taboo, remember?"

"I'm sorry. I forgot because of the excitement." Benny took the shot and ordered another.

"It's already been almost a year. The first few months, she made us believe that she had already accepted his death. But the truth is, until now, she hasn't gotten over him, yet."

"She considered him the closest person in her life. She cared so much for him. And it was her first time to have someone to care for that much. She may look strong, but she's the weakest among us when it comes to emotions. We can't blame her. It seems to her that she was betrayed by Rock."

"She loved him, didn't she?"

Dutch turned on Benny, giving him a grin. "Didn't she confess?"

"Only to Eda. I'm not even sure if she really did."

"Well, let's leave it like that."

"Right, right." Benny let out a short laugh.

Dutch's phone suddenly rang. He took it out. "Balalaika," he announced in a low voice. He put the phone to his ear. "Yes."

"Good evening, Dutch."

"Good evening. What can I do for you?"

"Tomorrow I want the Black Lagoon Company in my office. You three should all be present."

Dutch didn't reply right away. It had been his habit to think and reconsider things right after he heard them. His silence went for a few seconds. "Okay," he said, finally.

"That's all. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Good night."

She clicked.

"What did she say?" Benny asked.

"She wanted us to report to her office tomorrow."

"What for?"

"She didn't tell. She only said that we should be present, all three of us."

…

Early the next morning, just after breakfast, the Black Lagoon Company went to the Hotel Moscow mansion. Benny and Dutch were all alert in front of Balalaika. Only Revy seemed disinterested. Balalaika noticed this, but made no effort to point it out.

"We are all here as you wished," Dutch said.

"Yes. I expected no less." Her eyes went to Revy. "Hey, what's the matter, cutie?"

"I'm not in the mood for that kind of talk, sis."

"All right, all right."

"So, what's this all about?" Dutch said.

"I called you here to give you a job. Hotel Moscow will be flying to New York for a very important assembly. We, at Hotel Moscow, need your assistance for this."

Dutch didn't reply. For a while, he was just staring at her. Then he said, "New York. I hope you understand what that place means to us."

"I do," she said. "That's why I've prepared a very large compensation package commensurate to the risk involved."

"Hmmm…Benny, what do you say?"

Benny looked at Dutch, then shrugged. "You're my boss. You go, I go."

"And Revy?"

"Actually, I really don't like to return to that place anymore. But majority wins, right? I guess I have to say yes."

"Revy," Balalaika said. "You'll enjoy this. You might even thank me in the end that you accepted this job."

Revy frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see."

"So?" Dutch asked Revy.

"It better be good, sis."

"Don't worry."

Revy turned to Dutch. "All right. I'm in."

"Then it's settled," Dutch concluded.

"All right. I will just call you up when everything has been prepared," Balalaika said, ending the conversation.

…

This day was one of the worst days of his life. Today, Rock had experienced Mr. Robins' motor mouth to its maximum. He had only been late for six minutes, but "Mr. Penguin" had not given him even a second to explain himself. If he could just freely do it, he would have sent his boss flying from the thirty-second floor down to the ground to be a burger for rats. But, he couldn't. That was frustrating.

Rock had nothing left in his engine. He was dried out. Looking stressed, he went out of the tower and was just letting his body to lead him to his home. He had switched to autopilot. That was why when someone called his name he didn't notice it. He just went on walking as if a zombie controlled by a voodoo witch.

"Hey! Stop!" the voice repeated.

When he still ignored it, it suddenly grew hands. He felt his right arm being grabbed. He went back to consciousness and swirled around.

"Hey, Peter!" Nicole said. Her breath was pluming in front of her face, lingering under the visor of her cap before dispersing into the cold air.

"Excuse me?" he said, not recalling the cute girl before her.

"Hi! It seems that you had a bad day."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do I know you?"

Slightly hurt, she said, "Was I that uninteresting that you'd forget me that easily?"

"I'm sorry. I'm not good at remembering people."

"At least you should find me familiar."

Rock looked at her closer, pretending to use his fake glasses to see her better. "Ummm…yeah, it seems. But," he straightened up, "as you can see, I had a bad day and my brain is not quite in the mood to work on some recalling."

Nicole frowned. "It's Nicole! From the Japanese restaurant! Nicole Greene!"

Passing people looked at her, surprised.

"Easy," Rock said, raising a hand. "You don't need to shout."

"Hey, Rock!" he heard someone called from behind. He turned around and found Justin, an officemate, grinning at him. "Nice catch! What a cute girl you have!"

"Huh?" He looked at Nicole. "This one? Nah. She's just a kid asking for directions."

"Mind your business, you asshole!" Nicole blared at Justin. "What is it to you if I'm her girl? Get some workout so that you can also have one like me!"

Justin, being such a jolly guy, just belted laughter. "That's very funny, kid!" He turned on Rock. "See you tomorrow, pal!" He patted Rock's shoulder and went away.

Nicole balefully watched Justin as he left. "I wish he dies," she muttered. She turned on Rock. "So, do you remember me, now?"

Rock reached and removed her cap, letting her golden hair fall to her shoulders. He found her very lovely this time. Yes, he finally remembered. Color came back to his face.

"Are you really that same kid?" he asked.

Nicole snatched her pink cap and put it back on her head. "Yeah. Any complains?" she said.

"No, nothing. It's just that you were not this lovely, then."

She blushed, looking away. "Idiot," she muttered.

"Huh?"

"I said I was but you didn't spend enough time to look closer!"

He deliberately squinted to show that he had but she was just denying it. _Cocky girl._ "So, why are you here?"

Nicole hesitated for a while. Then she took some air and smiled. "Ummm…are you free tonight?"

Rock saw some anticipation in here eyes. "Well, actually, I'm not."

These words disheartened her. "Oh."

"But I can reconsider depending on how good your reason is."

"Really?"

"So?"

"Well, you see, it's my birthday today and I want to treat you out. My mind didn't stop bugging me about what you'd done for me. I want to repay your kindness to me. Also, I think…I think you will be able to make this day special."

"Don't say that you are thinking…"

Nicole nodded before he could finish.

"No!" he said, vehemently. "You can never make me lay with you."

"I'm not talking about that! I just want you to have an intimate date with me—" She caught herself and turned bright red. She glanced up at Rock, worriedly.

Rock suspiciously looked at her.

"Fine! If you don't want to, then I'll just leave!" She started marching away.

"All right." He said. She stopped and turned around. "I'll go. By the way, happy birthday."

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Berserker

"How did you find me?" asked Rock. They were now walking down the street, Nicole on the lead.

"I asked the man called Hidoshi," Nicole said.

"You got him answer?"

"That was easy. That man will sell his soul for the right price. He said you were working at the Crest Bach Tower. I checked when your shift ended once, then decided to meet you again on this day."

"I see."

Nicole led him into an alley, saying that it was a shortcut. But, he felt something was wrong. She seemed wary and avoiding some places. He remained quiet, though, and kept observing the surrounding. When she chose to turn to another corner, which was obviously avoided by pedestrians, he broke the silence.

"We shouldn't have taken this route," he said.

"This is a shortcut," she said. He noticed some slight faltering in her voice.

"But this place is desolated."

"Please don't worry. I was born here. Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

"I trust you. You don't need to ask. But I don't trust the guys who have been following us."

"Shit!" she hissed. "Peter, let's hurry."

They started to jog.

"You know them?" he asked.

"I'm sorry to put you in trouble. Yes, I know them. They want to kill me."

"Kill you? What kind of sick joke is that?"

"I'm sorry. I thought they wouldn't spot me. I guess I underestimated them," she said.

Suddenly, Rock felt danger. "Get down!" He pulled Nicole behind a pile of blocks. From behind, someone fired a gun twice. "Shit! They're serious!"

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm very sorry." She was both afraid and embarrassed, now.

"Damn it!" Rock hissed.

Nicole started to cry. "I'm sorry."

Rock looked at her and saw how helpless she was, hugging her knees, crying and shaking. He couldn't help but feel compassion for her. He sighed. Turning his head toward the sky, he saw the ominous color it had. Ash Gray. Another color of coldness but oppositely different from what blue represented. He had been thinking about this day. Always thinking about this day, in fact. And now that it came, he was somewhat hesitant in accepting it. He was afraid of what his surrounding had done to his general personality. The lonely life. Mr. Penguin. How would he turn out? He sighed. _Man, what a shitty day._ "All right. Since it's your birthday, and you risked your life just to treat me, I'll forgive you."

"I'm sorry," she muttered.

He sighed once more. _I think I have no other choice. _He took off his coat and put it over her. "Cheer up, will you? It's your birthday, after all. You shouldn't be crying."

"How can I cheer up? We can't escape from them."

_Shitty…a normal life is really too shitty for me._

"Who say we'll escape?" he said.

Nicole glanced up at him, confused.

_I came here believing that I could finally finish my mission. Then I discovered that all was just a lie. Leopold told me that there was still a sponsor living to push me on taking a new path in life._

"You wait here, okay," he said.

"What are you planning?"

_I tried to have one to honor his wish. But it's too shitty for me. I've been living without any purpose. I've been living like a flower in the midst of a vast grassland._

"I'll introduce myself to them."

"What? Are you crazy? No. I won't allow that."

_I've been so lonely._

"You have to trust me in this."

She shook her head. "No, please. Don't do this."

_Now, I'm decided._

"Nicole. Trust me."

She was silent for a while. From the alley, Rock could hear muttering and the slow but careful footsteps of men coming in his and Nicole's direction. He could feel that they were afraid somehow to Nicole. He might not have witnessed what had happened then, but he thought he got an idea why they were acting like that. He couldn't help grinning. Nicole didn't see it.

"Okay. Just promise me one thing. You should be able to celebrate my birthday with me."

_I will not try to runaway from my true self, again._

"I promise."

Unexpectedly, Nicole kissed him in the lips. "That's for good luck. Even though I have no idea what you're going to do, I'll believe in you."

Rock pulled his necktie loose. "This won't take long." He stood up and confronted Nicole's pursuers.

…

The men pursuing them—most of these men were blacks, dressed in hip-hop attires, complete with caps and metals—were more or less eight meters from their hiding place. That was why when Rock showed up, they couldn't react, immediately. Rock even had the time to light a cigarette before somebody among them managed to act.

"Who the fuck are you?" said Mitchell, the one in the front. "If you don't wanna get involved, bro, hand us over the girl."

Rock didn't answer.

"Hey, hey, were you listening? Wanna have your brain all over the floor?"

"Kids, kids. How can I hand over my girlfriend to you? You must be joking, right?" Rock said, haughtily, with a dangerous grin and baleful eyes.

"This guy's fucking with us, Mitchell," Robbie said. "Let's just take him down and take the girl by force."

Mitchell didn't respond.

"Hey, Mitch."

Still no answer. Robbie took a step forward to get nearer to Mitchell. But, when he looked at him…

"What the fuck…Mitch?" Robbie muttered.

"His eyes…his eyes…" Mitch said through quivering lips.

Robbie looked at Rock, and, in an instant, he went crazy and fired, continuously. "Demon! Demon!" Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Robbie looked behind him. "Shoot! Shoot! You fuckers!"

But before his team could understand what he was saying, Rock made his move. The former assassin leaped towards Robbie and stamped on his face. Robbie's head hit the ground. Blood oozed out of it, giving some scarlet background for his face, which eyes were staring up to nowhere. Now, the other men grasped what was happening. They fired at Rock. Swiftly, Rock pulled the petrified Mitch in front of him, using him as shield. Blood rained all over his face, stretching the evil grin he was wearing.

"Oh, you stained my shirt," Rock said.

"Fuck, we shot Mitch!"

"Forget it! Just shoot! Shoot!"

Rock grinned. "I'll gonna enjoy this."

Rock took Mitch's gun. Then a rhythm began to play.

Where are you, momma? Want to see your kid? Here I play my father's toy making friends bleed. Didn't he use this on you or in committing a fucking crime? Wow, I would enjoy this for much a longer time. Bam, bam! Bam, bam! Bam, bam! Heads will roll! Skulls will bust! You raised me like this, yesterday, you said! Now I want to show you I no more wet the bed! So where are you, momma? Where? I want to make you happy. If you see this, you'll be very proud of me!

"Fucking…run—ah!"

"Simon!"

"Run! Run!"

Rock chuckled, evilly. "So, you want to play chase, eh. Sigh, what a pain. But, this will make it more enjoyable."

He walked through the alleyway. From someone's point of view, this is a possibility. He or she would find the alley like a giant esophagus slashed on the sides. That was how much blood Rock had left there.

…

Rock threw away the gun since it was already empty. There were four more left. He found two men standing by a car, looking at him in a crazed manner. The other two were running away.

"Kevin, he has no more ammo. Le-let's shoot him down," said Sandy. The yellowing of his ears was obvious.

"C-can't m-move…I can't—"

With one long leap, Rock crushed Kevin's head with his knee, sending it through the back window of the car. Then, with one swift move, he thrust his fingers through Sandy's neck before Sandy could even react, killing him in an instant. He snatched the gun off Sandy's hand and aimed at the two fleeing gangsters. With two consecutive, almost simultaneous shots, he took them out.

"Forty-one point eight seconds. What a pity. I've grown weak," he said, looking at the gun in his hand. "Gonna need some more practice."

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Vesucci's Girl

She stood there petrified. Looking at the bloody corpses of her pursuers, she couldn't move even her eyelids. There was blood on the wall. There was blood on the pavement. On the trashcans. On the bottles of coke and booze. On the rags. There was too much blood for a vampire to lust. It was like a horror movie setting. Eyes crushed like chunks of puddings fallen from the third floor. Necks that had only a centimeter to be completely severed from the torso. It was disgusting. It was disgusting as her memory from the night when she had gone into a certain place.

_No…Please, stop…I don't want anymore…it hurts…Please…Please… _

These children's voices recurred inside her head. She had watched them being abused inside a room walled by glass windows. Men after men had gone in and took their piece. The pigs. She had wanted to kill them. She knew some of them. She had read them from newspapers. She had seen them on television. She had even begged for an autograph of one. Those pigs.

Now, in front of her, some of those pigs lay. Mitchell, the one who had endorsed her to be accepted in the organization; Michael, the one who had introduced her to the branch boss; Robbie, the one who had abused a male child. These pigs were dead now. But, she wished they had had a more painful death. Something that would have made them plead as those innocent children had done.

"Nicole," a voice called out softly.

She jumped and backed off, looking scared than ever. She was eyeing the man before her as she would eye a wild beast. She was shaking, blanching, and gaping at him. Beads of cold, sticky sweat on her face.

"It's all right to be scared."

Now, she recognized the voice. Then, she glanced up and recognized the handsome features of his face. Finally, she remembered his name.

"Peter?" she muttered.

"I know you're frightened—"

She went and embraced him, burying her face deep in his chest.

…

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you for fulfilling one of my wishes."

"Hey, look, now. You're soaked in blood," Rock said. "And you should not thank me. I…I shouldn't have done this. I feel bad that I seem a monster in front of you."

"You should not. They deserved this."

"What?"

"They were pigs. They were pigs covered with their own shit. I'm happy you killed them. They deserved this. Thank you."

He understood. A girl like her branding the corpses pigs had impressed something in him.

He finally realized his mistake.

_Like those assholes, these squirts fucking deserve to have this just the same. You know it, too, right?_

_Remember, I will never betray you._

Those were the same words his alternate personality had said to him. Yes, he had had the instinct before to be able to know who reeked like mud from who smelled normal. Because he hadn't been living by it for the past nine months, he, temporarily, had forgotten that he knew something like that. And, when he had smelled their stench, subconsciously, the thirst to kill such dirty humans had overwhelmed his gentle personality and taken over his will. True. Earlier, he had just been cowering to embrace his true self even after saying that he wouldn't run away from it, anymore. But now, everything came back to order. He should not doubt his judgment, again. His master had used him as weapon for a noble cause, after all. Whatever situation there could be, if he were about to use his skills to harm those that he should be protecting, he would definitely know.

He pushed her away, gently. He smiled. "Now, it's time for some celebration and a good conversation." He noticed the stains of blood on her. "But we should first find a place to change."

"Alright. But give me something first." She raised her head and closed her eyes. He knew what she wanted and strongly opposed the idea of giving it to her. He thought for a while.

"You know," he said, "I think we should be leaving, now. This is not the right place and the right time for that. The cops will arrive soon."

She didn't move. "Don't embarrass me," she warned under her breath.

Rock sighed. "Stupid kid." Begrudgingly, he leaned and kissed her. "Be grateful that it is your birthday today."

Nicole smiled. "Jerk." She held his hand and started to lead him. "I know a place."

…

"My real name is Rokuro Okajima," he said. Inside a VIP room in a club, he and Nicole were having their little celebration. (They were both wearing clean clothes, now. Nicole had asked an acquaintance of her to buy them some clothes and provide them some place to change.) Rock had brandy while Nicole had beer. Nicole was at her fourth mug, now. She was already a little tipsy.

That was what he said when Nicole stopped him midway when he had the topic fall on Revy. Nicole had left him with no other alternative but to tell her his adopted name, Rokuro Okajima, as his conclusion for his life's briefing.

"So, now it's your turn," he said. "Tell me who those guys were."

"Ummm?" Nicole looked at him with drowsy eyes.

"Those guys who've been hunting you, who are they?"

"Ah, that. Well, they are members of East Coast Arm Society. Heard of it, yet?"

"No."

"If your Roanapur has the Hotel Moscow, New York has the East Coast Arm Society, more popularly known as the East Coast Gang. They control many underground businesses here in New York."

"And why were they after you?"

"I took something from them that should have been in my possession a long time ago."

"It must have been very important to them for them to act so serious in retrieving it."

"Yes." She paused to drink. "You see, a snitch tipped me about the disk that my father used to have. I don't know what that disk's for, but he protected it with his life. Before my father died, he told me to find it for him. He lost it in an ambush two years ago."

"What was your father supposed to be?"

"He was a mafioso. Two years ago, a clash between the Vesucci family of the Sicilian Mafia and a branch of the Columbian Cartel occurred at Port Montero. My father barely survived that incident. He managed to get to the hospital and talk to me before he died, and there he told me about this disk. Later, I learned that the disk was already in the East Coast Gang's possession and, fortunately, because they wanted to be inconspicuous, the gang's bosses entrusted the disk to their small branch here in Claire. I sneaked in to this branch and stole the disk from them."

"That easily?"

"You think so? Of course, not! I tried everything to protect my virginity from being taken, you know, saying every excuse and executing clever plans. That branch is a prostitution den that uses children, and it's a requirement for a new recruit to lay with the boss. I did a trick that not only prevented that to happen but also scared the hell out of them, letting me escape." She giggled like a little girl. "I was very happy after seeing the boss retching on his bed." She laughed. "I created a ruckus inside the den and managed to escape. They chased after me, and then I met you."

Rock thought for a while. "Where did you find the disk?"

"Oh, so that's what you really meant by 'that easily?' I saw it on the lamp table inside the bedroom of the boss. I softened him to say what it was for. He said," she contorted her face to mimic the boss, "'that one? I don't know. The one who gave it to me just told me to keep it in an arms' length from me.' So, I inspected it and found my father's crest engraved on the edge. I realized that that disk was what I was looking for. I was really happy that time that I didn't have to make the boss sleep and search the whole room for it. I guess I was just too lucky."

Rock stared at her. He thought he knew where this talk was going. But, he still asked her to make sure. "Tell me, why did you risk your life to meet me even though you knew you were being hunted?"

As he had expected, she couldn't answer. She looked away.

Rock sighed. "You're not really Nicole Greene, aren't you?"

She glanced at him, and then she nodded.

"What is your true name?"

She hesitated for a while, then said, "Alejandra…Alejandra Vesucci."

"I see."

There was a long silence until Nicole broke it.

"How did you realize?" she asked.

"Mafias have a policy of absolute silence included in a code called _omerta._ If your father was just an ordinary member of the Vesucci family, you would never have known that he was a mafioso. Only one thing can explain this knowledge of yours. You as well were a member of the Mafia, and basing on your age, you could never have been except if you were a close relative of the head." He paused.

"You're right."

"Then, if I'm not mistaken, you smelled my true nature in the first place and thought of asking some help from me, didn't you?"

There was a split second of indecision here. "Yes."

Rock stared at her. "Can you tell me…" _what you want me to do, _"…how can I help you?"

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: War and Peace

Nicole had been the first one to be wasted. Rock, even though for almost a year he hadn't drunk a shot, had managed to keep his sobriety and attend to her. He had carried her on his back out of the club and out to the streets. He took the same alley that they had taken—Rock didn't know any other alley. The place was already clean. There were no police lines he could see. Probably, the police had thought that by tomorrow those lines would disappear anyway so they hadn't bothered keeping them there. The blood was still there, although he could only see faintly under the reflected light from the wall. There were chalk marks at the spots where there had been a corpse. Without paying a keen attention to the remnants of his rampage, he walked through the alley.

Fortunately, there was still a taxi on patrol at that time, one-twenty five in the morning. Yeah, why would he worry? New York never sleeps. He could have found a dozen for ten minutes of waiting. He asked the driver to drive them to the Almond Hills, but the driver refused four blocks before his apartment.

"Sorry, sir. I can only go this far."

"Huh? Aren't you supposed to take me anywhere until I say stop?"

"My plate has some issues regarding intruding turfs. I'm sorry."

"What turfs?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you. Don't worry. I'll only ask you to pay me half the total fare."

Rock was reluctant to accept this, but he knew he didn't have much choice. He paid the cabdriver up and, once again, he and Nicole were out in the cold.

Three blocks more before his apartment, Nicole suddenly muttered something.

"Rock?"

He was somewhat startled. "Ummm?" he replied.

"Do you really believe that the reason I risked my life for the sake of seeing you again is because I realized your true nature the first time we met?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the truth is, even though I was a mafioso, I was only a mafioso by title. I didn't involve myself in my family's activities, and I've been just living a normal life ever since. So, I've never been a villain before. I don't have the ability to distinguish a villain from a normal person. The first time I saw you, I didn't see anything more than a handsome guy." She chuckled. "The true reason I risked my life just to meet you again is because I felt that, besides myself, the only other person that I could completely trust was you."

"Oh, really?" he teased.

She lightly punched him in the cheek. "Dork. You think I'm not serious?"

"I think you're drunk. Definitely drunk."

She sighed.

"And reeking," he followed up, laughing.

She was silent for a time. Then she said, "In the restaurant, when you helped me, I felt something from you. I didn't know if that was charm or something else, but I definitely felt it. Then, as we talked, I gradually became at ease with you. The next thing I remember, I was foolishly anticipating something like you noticing my cuteness or you asking my number or my address, and so on. Then, when you left, even though at first I didn't feel it, I started missing you. I felt that I just had to meet you no matter what.

"When I finally had the chance to talk to you, earlier, you would never understand how I felt. I just kept myself from crying in happiness. I felt that the danger around me wasn't really a threat. I felt that as long as you were there beside me, no one could ever touch me. I felt that as long as I stayed with you, I could forever be safe."

Rock didn't reply.

"Rock?"

"Yes?"

"Will you protect me?"

He sighed. "You don't have to ask. Don't worry. I will protect you."

She snuggled closer to him. "Thank you."

…

The coldness of a December dawn could be painful on the skin. One might never be able to walk through it. But, Nicole couldn't feel anything but warmth. The bird naps she had endured for the past few weeks were already over. At last, she found peace. She felt that even if a pistol's nuzzle was on her head, she wouldn't worry. As long as she was with Rock, as long as he was by her side, nobody could do her harm. And that peace went on. Now, she felt his arms carrying her. She felt him laying her on a soft bed. And finally, she felt his lips on her forehead and the gentle "goodnight" on her right ear. He left her, then. But, although alone inside that dark room, she didn't feel lonely.

…

Rock gently closed the bedroom's door and walked to his couch. When he was there, he sprawled on it, eyes looking at the sunflower calendar on the wall. He felt the cold seeping through his skin. Even inside the unit, his breathing was pluming in front of his face. There was no snow, yet, but it felt as if there had been since two days ago.

Worse than the cold was his restlessness. Now his mind was at war. A normal life had just fled from his grasp. (_What a shitty day.)_ He had thought of getting over it fast by taking a nice, long sleep. With the cold and alcohol in him now, it seemed to be easy. But, he had not the most important thing to make him able to close his eyes and rest his body. Peace. He felt alone, again. (_I've been living like a flower in the midst of a vast grassland.) _Yes, he should not be feeling like that, because Nicole was just inside the next room. But her presence didn't fill the emptiness in him. He struggled to get a reason.

Sighing in frustration to find one, he groped for a cigarette, his old pal. Through thick and thin, his Rhino had been his only friend. He found none. _Eh, even old Rhino buddy has left me._ Shaking his head, he stood up. He needed to have a stick no matter what. He knew that it was better than alcohol in cooling him down. Without knowing it, he went for a drawer, pulled it, and got himself his arm-length knife. He strapped it around his left leg and went outside to Ben's Grocery, the no-breaks, no-holidays store.

He had just his sweater on. It was a gray sweater with a large yellow "I Would Love to Lay with You" letters Nicole had bought for him. In his mind, he had called it a "Gigolo Ad", but, in front of her, he had dubbed it "A Sexy Little Thing." Yeah, what a liar he was. And no one could blame him for it.

The cold air splashed him like a tsunami. He felt as if thousands of needles were piercing his skin. His lips turned dry. _Geez, why the hell did I not wear my winter—_

He sensed someone. Abruptly, he turned his head around to where his instincts were pointing him. There were only lampposts along the road, shadows on the sides, and buildings at the intersection. No one was around. But, he was sure about it. There was _definitely_ someone there. The danger, like the cold, was real.

…

The crosshair returned on the man with the gray sweater, the center of the cross on his head. One…two…three. The man was gone all of a sudden. The magnified image where he had been standing was now empty of his presence. The crosshair moved around. It took some seconds. Then, it caught the man in gray now walking in the shadows. The gunner didn't think, anymore, and just fired. A suppressed roar went out of the sniper rifle. But, the man wasn't hit. He was now running, growing nearer and nearer on the telescopic view. The sniper fired, and fired, and fired, but always missed. The silencer on the muzzle was now steaming. And, like the steam dissipating in the cold air, the image of the running man disappeared from sight once more. The crosshair swept the whole breadth of the street but failed to spot the man in gray. There was a sound of frustration. Then, only images in fast transition registered in the telescopic sight. Cluck! The transition slowed and finally stopped. Now, the crosshair was locked on a can of empty Yoko sardines that was surrounded by empty cartridges of bullets. It might not lock on anything, again, but on that rusty can for a very long time, as long as it had taken the can to finally decompose into dust.

To be continued…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Skirmish in the Fog

Rock had bought two packs of Rhino Menthol Giant. While walking back for his apartment, he couldn't take out from his mind the attack on him. Normally, if a person is attacked like that, he or she will immediately call the police. But, it was not the same for him since he was avoiding conflict and trouble especially with the authorities. He could take on criminal organizations but not a powerful institution like the NYPD. At least, not for the mean time.

He lit a cigarette and sucked on it. The fog was blocking his vision, now. Few minutes more and it would be impossible for him to see his way through.

He walked on. Then, when he was only about three lampposts away from his apartment, he saw someone standing few meters away from him. It was apparent that the stranger was female. She wore a dress with a bell-shaped, ankle length skirt. The skirt and her headgear had frills at the hem. Because of the fog, he couldn't completely make out her face. But one thing was for sure; she had her hair braided on both sides of her head. She looked familiar.

The woman started coming toward him. And, as she got nearer, he was slowly realizing who she was. When the fog finally revealed the suitcase she had been walking with, he recognized her. She was Rosarita Cisneros, the Bloodhound of Florencia, a guerilla assassin that Dr. Kutzmann had once considered one of the few in the world with a "limitless potential." If he recalled clearly, Roberta was her name, now, a maidservant employed at the house of the Lovelace family. She was one of the few that had matched Revy in a fight.

Roberta stopped a post away from him. The light from the lamppost revealed her pretty face. She was still wearing her big glasses, which hid behind her attractive, amethyst-blue eyes. Even though her expression was calm, he couldn't miss the fact that she was exuding a hostile aura towards him. He knew _she _was the one who had sniped him a while ago.

Suddenly, excitement filled his nerves. The devilish grin showed itself on his face, again, his eyes dangerously looking at her.

"Long time no see, cutie?" he said in a reedy voice.

Roberta replied by unlatching her suitcase. He knew what would happen next. And it happened. Roberta started shooting with her suitcase, which had been fitted with a machine gun inside. The consecutive roars of the gun resonated in the quiet dawn. Windows after windows lit up. Shrieks far away and near crowded the surrounding. By now, one of the residents might be calling the police, already. He got to lure her away from his apartment no matter what.

Using the now thick fog as cover, he fled away from her. She followed him as he had expected. When he was sure that he had already made a considerable amount of distance from his flat, he stopped. Running away was over. It was time to meet the predator head on.

…

Roberta looked left and right. The fog was so thick, now, that she could only make out silhouettes in her surrounding. She wondered how the man had managed to flee from her so easily. She thought without moving from her position. After a while, she made a conclusion. The confident smile he had shown as if he knew what was happening wasn't for show. The strange feeling of his stare on her wasn't illusion. The speed he had used to run away and made distance from her that easily wasn't ordinary. And the wariness she was feeling at the moment wasn't something to be neglected. Her target was a killer. That was absolute.

She dropped her suitcase. She needed to use her unconstrained agility to succeed, flawlessly. From her thighs, she pulled her two MAG-7s out and carefully walked forward.

She ended in front of the building where, on its roof deck, she had sniped her target. She looked left and right. The road was empty. She chose to follow her instinct and took the left.

Suddenly, she felt danger coming towards her. And it was fast. But, she didn't know where it would strike her. She crouched a little to prepare her legs for plunge. Then, warily but calmly, she looked around her.

To her surprise, the man came running towards her. On that instant, a question flashed in her mind: _Is he this confident to attack me from the front?_ Wasting no more time, she tried to fire her guns at him. He didn't hesitate even a little and continued his attack. Before she could pull the trigger, he reached her and made a quick slash. She had no choice but to dodge sideward. But he didn't end it there. He pivoted on his heel, swirling around with his knife toward her. The knife came down and she barely blocked it with her gun. However, that delay wasn't long. Having the precise angle and speed that brought the knife's paramount potential into use, the knife's blade slashed through the gun and sliced it across. She couldn't believe it, but it was true. She heard how the nuzzle clicked on the pavement. Fortunately, the knife, being a substandard product, broke. Having this as her cue, she fired at the man before her. The man pushed her wrist a little, and, in a flash, he disappeared into the now impossibly thick fog. She panted as she recovered her stance. The calmness in her had gotten a crack. She didn't want to have it now, but it was overwhelming. The man that she was supposed to kill wasn't what she had expected him to be. She was starting to fear him.

She waited, forcing herself to be calm. The fog now didn't only blur things out but covered them, completely. She looked around. Nothing moving registered into her senses. Until, suddenly, she heard footsteps coming. It was in front of her. She couldn't be wrong. Without thinking, now, she fired at where the sound was coming. She fired until the slide receded back and didn't slam, again. She dreaded this. Now she had to reload. As she reached out for a magazine, the man came at her. He was aiming to seize her gun. She pulled it away from his hand. But, he was too fast. He grabbed her collar and pulled her closer to him. His forehead touching hers, he reached out and took away her remaining MAG-7. Now she had no other choice left. He had taken custody of her most potent weapon at hand. She didn't want to do this, but she needed to. She pulled a ran-thread from her waist. Six grenades fell from her skirt. Quickly, she pushed herself away from him. Then, the grenades exploded.

She was panting. Still, her eyes were locked on the wreckage, smoke and fog mixing to form a much thicker cloud in front of her. She wished that she had got him. She didn't want to fight, anymore. The small crack was now a fracture. And it was melting her resolve. She had thought at first that she was only after a hare, but, now, with the skill it had been showing, it seemed it was really a wolf only guised as a hare. A bloodhound, well trained as it could be, could never defeat a wolf that grew up in the wild.

To her dismay, the man got out the smoking ruin, sprinting towards her. She froze for a moment in surprise, but got her defenses up in time. The man thrust his hand forward toward her neck in a blinding speed. She barely blocked it. Preoccupied by the attack, she didn't see his head coming. He hit her in the head. She staggered backward. Then, before she could even regain her balance, he advanced and planted a fist to her stomach. Her head spun while her body began to sleep. The man took her by the neck and slammed her to a wall. She faintly felt her back hitting it. Now, he was carrying her six inches from the ground.

Roberta could only stare down at him. Her body felt numb, now. Even her skin couldn't feel the cold, anymore. She wondered what had really happened. Almost barehanded, he had defeated her. His speed, agility, stealthy attacks, and strength outmatched hers by two-folds. This was her first time being defeated this easily. She had brought guns and all, but they were all useless against him. Who was this man? She looked at him closer and was shocked at her discovery. This man was whom the Two Hands had been with. The gentle businessman who had tried to stop her and Revy in continuing their fight. How could this be? How could he completely hide from her his true self? He had seemed like a different guy, then, in comparison to the guy who was holding her, now, against the wall. How? She thought despite the decrease of blood supply in her brain. After three seconds, she recalled Nuevo, a high-ranking official of the FARC, the revolutionary group she had been affiliated with some years ago, talking in a briefing.

"We should lie low for now. We've got an information regarding assassination plots against our leaders. We should retreat to the town and live as civilians for the mean time."

Jesusa, another assassin like her, stood up and asked. "_Commandante_, why should we do that if we could retreat to our headquarters?"

Nuevo laughed. "_Señorita,_ it's impossible. These assassins we're talking about are not on our level. They're," he paused to think for a word, "impossible."

"But how about our leaders?"

"Well, they've accepted their fate, already. Consider them dead. Anyway, we have gotten some photos from our spies in the government. Take a look at this." He switched on the projector. On the white curtain, an image of an Asian boy older or younger than her appeared. The boy was smiling but the smile felt eerie. He was holding a golden cage with a white cockatoo inside. "There will be four assassins coming. A boy and three middle-aged women. This boy is the youngest. Our spies failed to get the women's pictures, but they seem to be more of a back up than the actual frontline. Anyway, the government seems to expect more from this particular kid. This is Cold Knife. He is rumored to be the one responsible for the dissolution of Black Lance Reform Movement."

She had been disbelieving, then, and, because she hadn't had the chance to meet him face to face at that time, she had never believed to what _Commandante_ Nuevo had said. All her superiors had been killed two days later. It had made her more skeptical to believe that a mere boy was one of the bunch that had conducted the assassinations.

That boy, even with the eerie smile, had looked very innocent. This man, when she had first seen him, had looked very gentle. Looking at him closer, she saw that he had the same features as that of the boy. Could it be…? Indeed. Nuevo had been telling them the truth.

_They are…impossible._

Before she lost consciousness, she struggled to speak. From her throat, she managed to mutter this: "You are Cold Knife?"

Suddenly, the man's expression changed. Prior to this, he let her drop on the ground. She coughed, repeatedly, until she caught her breath. When she looked up at him, she saw his cold stare at her. Her eyes bulged and her body, involuntarily, began retracting from him. The maniacal glee he had had was gone. What remained was a blank expression on his face and a pair of emotionless eyes even she couldn't recall seeing before.

"Why did you try to kill me?" he said.

Her vision went blurry. The lack of oxygen in her brain plus the pressure she was feeling took effect on her. She fainted.

To be continued…


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Closer

They finally arrived. And once there they had been temporarily lodged in a good place…for crackheads.

"This will be a very good experience, she says. Shit! I'm going back to Thailand!"

"Revy, Revy, calm down. A little ordeal is necessary if you go treasure hunting."

"You shitty blonde! Do you know the meaning of good experience?"

"Had we had one in years?"

For a while, Revy just looked at him. "Fuck."

"Yeah. Thank you for considering."

Revy took out two cigarettes from her pocket, crumpled from prolonged confinement. She eyed them with self-pity, and then put one in her mouth.

"You want one?"

Benny looked at the cigarette. "That's…that's very generous of you."

"Yeah."

"It looks like taken from the asshole."

Out of annoyance, Revy threw the cigarette to his face. "Motherfucker!"

Outside, Dutch was busy on the phone. He was looking at the sky as if he was talking to an angel.

"Yeah...Sure…We'll wait…Revy? Oh, she'll get by. She's just a little pissed off with the place we'll be staying at. But you know her…Yeah, of course…All right…Okay. That'd be best…Okay. See you." He ended the call.

When Dutch came in, he arrived on Benny smoking the sister of Revy's cigarette.

"Where is she?"

"Oh, upstairs, bickering with herself."

"Christ."

"Thank the gods she didn't have her guns for now."

Dutch looked around. "Some place, huh?"

Benny didn't answer, only sipped in smoke.

Dutch became serious. "By tomorrow, we must have already known at least every alley within twenty kilometers from here. That'd be your job."

"Piece of cake."

"In any case, being relaxed is unadvisable."

"Sure isn't."

…

Inside her room, Revy lay on the makeshift bed, legs crossed, hands behind her head, cigarette in her mouth. She'd never been this unenergetic before over money. Why on earth was she feeling down? She shifted to her side. No. It wasn't New York. She could go back and forth to this place if she felt doing so. No. Definitely, it was not the place. They why? She shifted back. She couldn't understand herself. Her intuition was telling her that something shocking would happen, and, sadly, she wasn't prepared for that. What could it be that she feared occurring? And why did she feel she wasn't ready for it?

She bolted up, crushed her still lighted cigarette, and threw it to the floor. Embers dotted the otherwise unattractive room as the screwed stick bounced over the floorboards. She kicked the bed and it toppled over.

"Oh, my…" Benny muttered.

"Hey, if I find my bed fine by tomorrow, I'll pimp you to have extra cash."

From upstairs came a crunchy, "Fuck you!"

Dutch just shook his head.

…

Rock took a sip out of his cup. He was watching Roberta, whom he had tied on a chair. The beautiful Latina assassin looked unbelievably different compared to the woman she had been a while ago.

She looked unscathed. He wondered how she had maintained such a face. He took another sip.

After he had finished his coffee, he thought on having another cup. He stood up.

"What are you planning to me?" Roberta said.

He looked at her. "At last you have come to."

"Why did you keep me alive?"

"You know the reason as much as I do."

"You should have also known that it'd be useless."

"You'll be surprised."

Roberta frowned at him. "You'll not get anything from me."

"Let's talk later. First, let me get myself another cup."

Beyond his knowledge, Roberta was doing something with the rope, and when he came back, he was still unaware of it. He sat down.

"So, Miss Roberta, why did you suddenly pay me a visit?"

She glared at him.

Outside, two ambulance, a firetruck, and ten or so police mobiles were gathered at the curb near the village's assembly hall; their warning lights were fighting to get through the thick mist. A police officer, Sheriff O'Neal, a short but strong built man of early forties was interrogating Mr. Carter, one of the oldest fellows in the community.

"What did you witness?" O'Neal asked.

"Didn't you hear me? The mist was so thick. I didn't see anything."

"Sir, please. I'm not the same reporter who asked you things earlier. I'm just asking for a little cooperation here."

Carter looked at him, reconsidering. "Guns. I heard guns."

"Okay…"

"No more."

"No more?"

"Yes."

"What about shouts?"

"No."

"An ordinary fight, you think?"

"I think not."

"Could you elaborate?"

"The shots sounded professional."

"Could you be more specific?"

"Well, you know, ordinary gunfights sound a little crazy. There is no rhythm and the gunman shoots as if he has unlimited bullets in his backpack. While earlier, what I heard had elements of patience and careful calculations, even though the last round was a little rushed. Well, you are a seasoned policeman. You know what I mean."

"How did you come up—"

"It reminded me of my days in the army." Mr. Carter spat on the ground.

…

"Why were you trying to kill me?" Rock was asking.

"I need to sweep the dirt away from this world."

"Let's not talk about ideals, now. I tell you what I think. You did it because you had no choice."

Roberta didn't answer.

"Who is behind this?"

"No one."

"Too unrealistic. You wouldn't do this on your own."

"I would and just did."

"'In the name of Mother Mary, I shall only bear arms again only if my master needs protection that is impossible to give through human laws.' Remember this? It's what you pledged after you fought with Revy."

"Don't make a fool out of me. I'm an assassin—"

"An assassin whose loyalty would make a king cry."

She looked away.

"It's not hard if you just tell me the truth. I will ride along with everything to help you out of this situation. You know the difference of our abilities. You know that you can't kill me. Now, I'm giving you an easier choice. Just tell me who's behind all of this and, I promise, I won't hold myself back from helping you."

She thought for a while. He watched her. And in the process, he finally noticed the disappearance of tension on the rope around her body. She really was a professional. Another underestimation could reverse the situation, easily. He should have tied her in titanium chains.

A minute passed and he couldn't wait any longer. "Is Balalaika connected with this?"

Roberta turned, abruptly. "How did you come up with that name?"

"I can't think of no one else to be this interested in me."

In a split second, he saw fear in her eyes.

"I won't let you live!"

To be continued…


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: On the Verge of Meeting

Now, she forgot everything and attacked. Rock calmly waited. He could clearly see the lack of preparation in her movements. She punched but she was barely in control. The kick was the same. In just a short while, he completely stopped her.

"I have no intention of hurting you! Would you please calm down?"

But she kept on struggling, forcing her way out from his embrace. She was pretty strong. Maybe twice as much as Dutch.

"No! I have no other choice!"

"That's why I'm giving you one!" he hissed. "If Balalaika was behind all of this, she wouldn't want me killed! Balalaika is a wise woman. She will only take actions when she is sure that the outcome is profitable for her. Remember that she is the _king _of Roanapur. She knows me, she knows you. What she really intends to do is to assure herself that I'm the one she's looking for, the true Cold Knife! Don't you get it yet? You're just a bait to catch me!"

Roberta stiffened, eyes wide with shock.

"She's looking forward to me killing you. That's how she would be assured. Nobody could kill an assassin of your caliber but me. That's what she was convinced of. That's what she risked. And that's why she sent you."

Roberta stopped struggling. She softened inside Rock's firm hold. The floor became an infinite space for her.

"Listen carefully," Rock said. "I know by our nature that you won't trust me that easily. But this I promise you. If my intervention proves to aggravate the situation, I'll destroy Hotel Moscow."

…

Mr. Rod Clintflair, a black American in his early sixties sat on his throne. He was staying in the one-hundred-sixth room on the seventy-ninth floor of the Merchant Tower, one of the highest buildings in America. As usual, he was watching the city below. It was four in the morning. Only the ember of his cigar lighted the corner where he was.

Someone knocked at the door.

"Eagles may live," Rod said.

"If they nest far from the Brotherhood."

Rod smiled. "You can come in, now."

A tall, young man went in.

"How are things going?"

"As what you requested; no media will be printing or airing about what happened to our brothers. Our contacts have already cleaned the corpses."

"And the harvester?"

"I appointed James for the hunt."

"Alright, good." He was quiet for a while. "Croner, do you find that man interesting?"

"That man? Yes. The little girl might have found quite a reliable ally."

"When I watched the video, I felt something extraordinary from him. It was as if he was born just to kill."

"What do you plan of him?"

Rod was smiling as he crushed the tip of his cigar on the brass ashtray. "He will either die or be one of my weapons."

…

He was struck by how weak she could be that morning. As he watched her sit motionlessly on the sofa, he wondered who she was at the moment. Assassins tend to be calm and intact despite their lives are in the line. However, Roberta had shown him a lot of anxiety and indecisiveness. She was far from the killing machine he had heard of her when she was in Cuba.

"How is Garcia?"

"He is fine," she said. "Please, don't ask me about him."

He wanted to pry on but pity punched him dead when he looked at her eyes. He was afraid that she would cry anytime. So he just finished his coffee and told her to have some rest. She looked a little relieved after hearing that, making him at ease.

"Thank you," she said.

"Don't. Please. I should be cursed not thanked."

She suddenly stood up. "I mean it."

No more wise remarks. Her beauty which was amazingly filled with innocent sincerity shattered his defenses. He couldn't reply anything made of words. So he did it with a gesture. He smiled at her.

…

He was resolved to resign sooner or later, but the situation he was at the moment shortened the reprieve. He was rather forced to leave his job.

Early that morning, he went to his place of work, carrying his resignation letter in his pocket. There was no snow, yet, but the cold was flesh numbing. The training he had had proved to be useless since the temperature was a notch colder than ordinary. However, he ignored it as much as he could with a mixture of regret and excitement.

The building was almost empty when he arrived. Some offices had been closed for the upcoming holidays. It was as if a Sunday morning instead of a Monday.

He walked through the city of desks of Mr. Robins' firm. Only few people were there. The others might have been already on vacation, he thought. Wasting no time even to greet them, Rock went on to his boss's office.

The old penguin man was busy on his papers. When Rock entered in, he looked up and made an insulting scoff.

"What brought you here? You are supposed to be on leave, right?"

"I want to hand you this." He put his resignation letter on the desk.

"What's this?" Mr. Robins read a part. "What? You're resigning?"

"Yes."

"So you have the guts to resign. No, I won't approve this. You're contract says that you aren't permitted to resign until one month before your EOC. I can sue you and penalize you if you do."

Rock took a deep breath. "I'm tired, Mr. Robins."

"Tired of what? As far as I know, you're the least efficient employee I've ever had. You go in late and get out early. You never finished any job I gave you in a day. You have so many alibis, many complaints, but only a handful of accomplishments. How come you're tired? You barely even tried."

"If that's so, why won't you fire me? Aren't you stupid to keep someone like me in your firm?"

Mr. Robins grimaced. "Watch your mouth, boy."

"Fuck you! You know what I'm tired about? It's your mouth. Everyday when I hear you, I want to smack you and pull your tongue out! Do you understand that I abhor working for you any longer? I have never wished to work for an asshole!"

Hurt and angry, Mr. Robins rose up and slapped him. For a moment, his head was in a spin, but he regained it fast. When he looked back at his boss, he had his killer's eyes. Mr. Robins suddenly blanched in fear.

"I promised myself that I wouldn't touch you if you would simply berate me with words. But slapping me is a totally different thing." He reached out for Mr. Robins' neck and lifted him up from the chair. "I won't tolerate you anymore. I won't allow you to rape your own daughter and batter your wife any longer. I should have done this a long time ago."

"How did you…"

Rock climbed up the desk and, with one powerful hand, hauled Mr. Robins towards the ceiling high window behind him. Rock stood waiting until he heard commotion below. Then satisfied enough climbed down and nonchalantly went out the room.

"All assholes go to hell."

…

Revy grudgingly trod on the gray road, body covered with a thick, khaki jacket, a cigarette in her mouth. She had let her hair loose to minimize the chance of being spotted. Early that morning, she had had a heated argument with Dutch.

"I don't want to! Let Benny do that."

"Benny is busy setting up the computers. Besides, you're not doing anything. At least you can help with the chores."

"Dutch, Dutch, Dutch, you know my part in this company. I'm not a goddamn maid, oh please. I don't even know how to differentiate a potato from a fuckin' carrot. Now, you're asking me to shop?" She waited for a reply from Dutch, but she knew she already lost the battle.

Dutch smiled. "And buy me a rim of King's."

"Fuck."

And now, she was out in the cold, feeling stupid and thwarted.

She arrived at the market. It was a one-way road between the Crest Bach Tower and the Blues Blue Hotel conquered by merchants who had built stalls on each side of it. Different commodities from food to second-hand televisions were available in the place. She looked at the list Dutch had given her. Then, she searched a stall where an item in list was available and approached it.

Suddenly, two male teenagers approached her. One was blonde, the other a black-American. Revy frowned at them.

"Hey, you alone?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah, yeah, you alone?" mimicked the other.

Revy didn't answer.

"Well, you know, we broke in a bank last night and we got ourselves some cash here. Want to join us to celebrate?"

"Cash?"

The two kids sneered at each other.

"Yes, two thousand bucks in crunchy green papers. If you come, we can give you some _porciento_."

"And where will we go?"

"Go fuck ourselves till midnight."

There was silence for a while until…

Revy kicked the blonde's balls and, when he leaned forward, followed it up with a heel to his nose. Blood squirted from his face as he went rolling on the pavement. The black kid had his eyes almost out of his skull.

"Oh, mother…What did you do to him?"

"Do you want to know?"

The black kid looked at her with fright. "N-no, no, no—"

Revy punched him, knocking him out.

"Little squirts."

Revy approached the blonde and rummaged his pants' pockets. She found the bundle of greens. She brightened up.

"At least, you're not a liar."

As she was about to stand up, something fell down from the sky. The stall where it landed was utterly destroyed. She stood up and a drop of blood stained her face. Suddenly, she felt something from her stomach, making her want to shoot someone.

She was one of the dogs. A dog can detect an enemy nearby even when it is in the shadows. She could feel the strange sensation that was coming off from the crushed stall. She knew in an instant that it would all start from there, the thing that she feared occurring.

To be continued…


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Same Old Revy

He calmed himself down, watching over the remains of what he had just made inside his boss's office. Shards of glass littered the floor, shining like dust of diamonds under the dim rays of the sun. The temperature of the air inside the room dropped as the much colder air outside rushed in and mixed with it. He felt cold. And the air made it even worse.

He knew, sooner or later, they'd find out what happened. Many people saw him in and no one but him had entered his office that morning. Many would testify against him, he was sure of that. Every other table in the prairie coveted his position. He was sure they would take this as a chance for revenge and testify to accusations thrown at him even though they barely knew what those were and what those supposed to mean. His aspiration for a normal life was over. Maybe it was really his fate to belong to a less brighter world than the majority had. Anyway, it was not that hard for him to accept it, now, especially that his current situation would never give him a choice but to sink lower.

As he was walking down the hallway, Theresa passed by. She was heading for the Penguin's office. And that was it for him. The torch for the beginning of another adventure had come. She would be calling the police and it would be bad if he didn't hurry out.

He got out before the mobiles came. Lucky for him, it was quite tight on the road. Even though the precinct lay more or less five-hundred meters only from the Crest Bach building, it was impossible to respond quickly in that kind of traffic. A horse as a mount was already obsolete. He thought that if that was the case, they could have had a chance.

He wasn't in the mood, yet, to come home and the police would have difficulty in tracing him after he donned his disguise. Having that in mind, he went to relish the last day of his being completely normal. He decided to go to his favorite place, which offered a great view of Liberty. The place had benches to wait at and beautiful lampposts. They were lit already to brighten the gray surrounding. Thankfully, Liberty was still visible despite of the sad weather. The lights coming off from her crown were like stars around the head of a goddess, and her torch gave off the impression of valor and patriotism which were only tangible in legends. He stood there looking at her like her lover while he reminisce some events that had happened to him there in New York.

He heard her voice in his head again.

"Please…I know you can help us."

He wanted to forget her bruised face drenched by tears, but the image was so clear in his memory he couldn't help himself from remembering it.

"Please…Help me escape…Help _us_ escape from him."

It was Elena, his former boss's wife. She had confessed the abuse she had been suffering from Mr. Robins a time when he and she had had the chance to meet. At first he had been reluctant to believe. He didn't know her well to pay a considerable attention. Besides, he was still striving to act as a normal person as far as he could in any given situation.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he said.

"You do. I know you do…Please."

"I…"

She held his arm with her frail hand and he felt his knees softened. He didn't know what to do now. He stared at her and all he could think of was, _No, this woman isn't lying. _And then, something occurred to him after that thought, something that brought in him a brief rush of genuine happiness. He felt human who could feel for someone else.

He could still feel the gentle pressure on his arm. It was weak but he was stuck. He couldn't free his arm as he could if the grasp was hostile.

"Please…" she went on. "I'll do—"

He stopped her the moment she spoke those words. He never wanted to hear something as what she was about to say.

"Let me… investigate."

Her face brightened up and she couldn't be more beautiful.

"I will not promise you…"

"Thank you," she said. Her voice now had more confidence than earlier. He didn't understand how she saw through him, or could it be that he was a part of a selection process she had come up with in desperation to escape her situation.

Anyhow, he had now rid her of Mr. Robins. _I've done enough_. _You should start doing your part of the deal._

He fetched his pack of Rhino out his breast pocket and lit one stick. Then, he withdrew to a chair. After a while, he heard voices coming across the street. There was a woman and a man shouting at each other. The man was tall and huge. The woman…

_What the fuck…?_ He followed the woman with his gaze as she gave the huge man the finger and then stomped away. He could not believe what he was witnessing.

As she was about to descend to the subway station, she stopped to look around as if someone had called her. She swept the streets and once, but briefly, their eyes met. She seemed not to recognize him so she went on to what she was about to do.

He could only watch her for a moment until he realized that he was passing on a chance. She would be gone just like that? Again? No. So he stood up and hastily crossed the street with a bunch of curses and beeps tailing him from behind. Fuck them. He only had one thing in his mind that time. It was to see her face to face.

Once he got in the subway, he wasted no time to find her. She was wearing a fatigue jacket. That was the only thing clear in his mind. People. All he could see were people. The place was crowded as usual and frustratingly full of tall individuals. He started to feel really afraid not to spot her. Then, in a corner near a bench, he saw her, smoking.

He hesitated for a moment, thinking of vague possibilities that might come up. But he swallowed that hesitation in. Here was his only chance and he was not planning to wait for another.

It felt weird to be that close to her, again. And that new look she was with made her a little unfamiliar to him. Anyhow, he was sure that he wasn't mistaken. She was who he had known she was—the same old Revy.

_To be continued…_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Ghost of You

They were face to face. Neither speaking. Either they didn't know what to say or they wouldn't dare to say a word while their emotions were in turmoil. The world went on as it had ever since, but time seemed to stop between them. This was the first time they met after a very long time. It was hard for both to bear.

"I never thought I would see you here…see you again," he said. "How are you?"

"This is ridiculous. This must be a dream or something, an illusion. Yeah, maybe I'm thinking too much," she said, more to herself. "This can't be true."

"Revy, hey, I'm not an illusion. It's me. It's Rock."

"I know who you are! If you're a ghost, I'm sorry I haven't visited your grave even once but I don't know where it lies and I'm too scared to visit that building. You know it. If you still remember. You died there. I don't really believe in ghosts, but I heard that they come back if their love ones don't pray for their peace and—"

"Revy."

"What do you want!"

"What? Nothing. What are you saying? I just want to say hi. You know, the last time we met, what, seven, eight months ago, and then, just like that, you appeared before my eyes and I thought I wouldn't have any other chance to talk to you so here I am."

"Okay, okay. Maybe you're not a ghost. I don't know where and when the fuck we last met, but mister, is this your idea of a joke? Look, Rock is dead. I witnessed it with my two eyes. If you're his brother or a relative or anyone who knew him, please knock it off already before I go berserk and send you to the morgue." She paused. "Don't try me."

He frowned. "I'm not trying to joke you, Revy. I'm not dead. I survived that crash. I'm the one and only Rokuro Okajima this world has ever produced. Look at me. I'm the same person who used to work for you."

"Holy shit!" she gasped. "Holy fucking shit!"

"I'm sorry if I had to keep this a secret but I only did that to assure myself that nothing would happen to you and you wouldn't get involved in my problems."

"Okay," she said, turning away and catching her breath. "Give me a second." After a few moments, she faced him. She took in a lungful of breath and suddenly punched him square in the jaw. "Fuck you!"

Rock almost knelt on the floor, shocked.

"You're a fucking good-for-nothing asshole! You lying bastard! You fooled us! You made us believe that you died and now you'll just pop out from nowhere and casually say that you are still alive? You don't know what we went through after you were gone. You know what, I wish you really died!"

Rock straightened up. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I put you through an ordeal so that I could guarantee your safety. Knowing you, I knew that you would have done something to follow me and help me. If I tolerated that, and what Leopold had told me was true, you could have died in the process." Revy was about to say something but Rock cut in. "I know. I know well that you can protect yourself. Honestly, you're one of the most dangerous female cutthroats I've ever known. But I was about to commence an assassination then. I was to employ a single-man tactic for its completion. If I had anyone with me, they would have known, and before they could get to me, they would have targeted you first. Do you know who I supposedly was up against with? It was a sponsor and sponsors have such power and influence that they could easily destroy strong groups such as Hotel Moscow. Imagine what could have happened if you were with me. Not only that I could have jeopardized my mission, I could have also endangered your life."

"But you could have contacted us, told us you were safe and doing something important you couldn't tell where you were." She searched his face, waiting for a reply.

Rock swallowed.

"Tell me, Rock. What was really your reason?"

"Okay!" Rock snapped. "Okay." He inhaled and exhaled. "I tried for a normal life different from what I used to have. When I realized Leopold had been only lying, it occurred to me that since I was already here, had a new identity, I might as well try to have a normal life. I applied for a job, earned some money, and bought myself an apartment. I was excited and always kept convincing myself that this was it, this was what the Doctor had been wanting for me." He paused. "I enjoyed this new life for a while, but the redundant and dull daily routine finally got through me and started scraping my patience. In the end, I grew tired of it and…are you listening?"

"Huh? Yes. I'm listening. Go on."

"I suddenly met this girl, Nicole, who is in trouble with a gang here. She pleaded for my help and then things happened which pushed me back to the underworld, again. So now…hey, do I need to continue this?"

Revy glared at him. "No. If you're thinking that I would believe a single word that you said, you're wrong. It's obviously fabricated, ready to be delivered just in case."

"I haven't fabricated anything."

"Oh, yeah? Then what about your applying for a job, eh? It doesn't take a doctorate degree in psychology to know that a favorite son like you is left pretty well-off by his father. It's impossible that this Doctor didn't leave even a single penny to your name."

"Yes, he did. But I wanted a normal life, a life commonplace in a city like this."

"And how did you able to buy an apartment in just a few months of working on a job you said to be commonplace in a city like this?"

"My boss was paying me fifty-thousand dollars a month."

"Fucking…what? Where's your boss? I think I'm going to kick his ass for doing such stupidity."

There was silence. Then Rock said, "Revy, how can you forgive me?"

Revy considered, all serious now. "Three seconds. If you could do something in three seconds that could quench my anger, I would forgive you."

"Revy, that's im—"

"One."

"Revy…"

"Two."

Rock thought fast. Before Revy could open her mouth, he pushed her against the wall and kissed her. He felt that she was panicking and stubbornly keeping her lips closed. Determined to make her anger into embarrassment, he did a bold thing. He reached inside her pants and touched her where she was weakest. Her eyes bulged in deep surprise, her mouth opened up, and he immediately intruded with his tongue. He pulled his hand out and grabbed her wrist to completely immobilize her. She couldn't struggle anymore. She couldn't send a knee to his crotch because Rock had already covered that up by pressing too close to her body. She couldn't bite him because he might try to touch her again. So, she let him.

When they broke the kiss, they were both out of breath. Revy was so red and embarrassed she couldn't even look at Rock. Rock was just staring at her.

Revy glimpsed at him and when she saw him looking, took her eyes away fast.

"So?" he asked.

"What so?"

"You liked it?"

"Fuck you! I will definitely not forgive you for this!"

He began to smile. He knew the tension was gone. "Oh?"

"Fuck you fuck you fuck you!" Her eyes stung.

"Come on! Admit it in my face!"

She collared him and muttered angrily, "I will not admit anything."

What only remained was for her to forgive him, verbally. He laughed and cried at the crowd, "Hey, folks, we're engaged!"

The crowd suddenly took interest in them. Revy was deeply surprised.

"Oh, how lovely!"

"Really? You seemed arguing just a moment ago. What happened?"

"My girl was just playing hard-to-get, that's all," Rock said.

"If you'll not stop this…" she began saying.

"What?"

Revy couldn't answer.

"Oh, how sweet!" a teenage girl said.

"Shut up!" Revy snapped.

The crowd began closing in. Revy began to worry. She wanted to cry in embarrassment.

"Rock, tell them!" To the crowd she said, "Hey, this is not what it seems to be."

"Kiss! Kiss!" the crowd began to cheer.

"Rock!" she pleaded.

"Do you forgive me, now? Sweetheart?" he said, mockingly.

Revy glared at him, clenching her jaws.

"So?"

"No. Fuck you!"

"Oh, it seems my baby doesn't want to forgive me! Folks, what do you think I must do?"

"Hey, darling, why cant' you forgive this sweet man?"

"Sister, it's very obvious that he loves you."

"Maybe my daughter is more deserving for your love, lad."

Revy wearily looked around, unknowingly gripping Rock's collar tighter. When she couldn't take the pressure anymore, she shouted, "Okay! Okay, I forgive you! I forgive you so enough of this already!"

"Kiss! Kiss!" said the crowd.

Revy closed her eyes and pecked Rock's lips. Then she hid her face in his chest. "Stop this, please."

Struck by pity, he said, "Okay, thank you very much, folks. I think we're okay now."

"Was that a kiss? Give us a better one!"

"Yeah, yeah, that wasn't a true love's kiss!"

"Pretty ladies should know how to kiss! Pity you!"

"Alright! Don't bull her anymore," he said. He looked down at her. Revy's face was really too red to consider normal. "Oops, it may not be a good idea if we stay here longer," he whispered to her. "Now, if you want to get away from here, you should trust me. I ask you…"

"Yes," she mumbled. She was gripping his shirt tight, hiding her face between her hands.

"What?"

"Yes." Her answer was still muffled but it was more audible this time.

"Okay." He carried her in his arms. She wanted to go down, but she had said she would trust him and she really wanted to get away from there as soon as possible.

"Mister, I believe this is hers," a lady said, pointing at a plastic bag full of groceries on the floor.

"Oh, yeah, thank you."

She giggled. "You're welcome." When he started to pick the bag up, she added, "When you grow tired of her, I'm always here in this subway, seven to twelve."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind." And he fled with Revy in his arms.

To be continued…


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Death or Pride

He put her down on a bench in the park. She was furious.

"What you said is what you said," he said.

She glared at him. "You think that was funny?"

"Now you know how it feels to be bullied."

She stood up. "If you think I meant what I said, I say this to you—no!"

"Whatever."

She sucked in air. "I will never forgive traitors."

Rock's mood darkened. He pushed Revy against the bench's back, his hands pinning her shoulders. "Hey, I'm not a traitor. If I need to use force to make you believe I was telling the truth, I won't think twice. Look around you. Nobody is here. I can rape you here until I crack your hard head and no one is going to hear a thing. You already forgave me and if you're taking it back, I won't let you."

"Go on! Come at me. Rape me! I won't even scream. It will just prove how low you've got living here in New York." She paused. She courageously said it but deep inside her she was horrified of the idea. "What the fuck are you waiting for? Do I still need to take off my clothes myself? Come on! Feel free to do anything to me." She waited for a reply. When she didn't get one, she pushed Rock away and moved behind the bench.

Rock stared at where Revy had been. Then, with a fast blow, he punched the metal bench into a vee, the wooden back separating at the center. His fist bled at the knuckles, his face full of hatred his Devil's Glare showed.

"I don't know what's too hard to understand!" he said. "I don't know why you can't accept my explanations. I just wanted to protect you. And what's wrong in craving for something? Am I not entitled to dream?"

"You know what's wrong? You totally forgot about us. If you want the truth, now listen. When I heard of your death from Balalaika, which she confirmed telling me that she had seen your dead body along side with Leopold's, I was completely devastated. For three months, Rock, I didn't know what to do. I don't want to admit this but yes, I cried every night when I was alone in my room. My feminine side took over me. I just couldn't help it. You would not be able to imagine my condition that time. It's not exaggerated to say that I also died when I heard of your demise. The only difference was I was still breathing. For three months, I was like that until I learned to get over you. I thought that you were already happy somewhere and that I should be rather happy for you. And now that I'm finally used to it, you will just appear from nowhere and say 'Hey, I got you!' as if all was a joke.

"You made me look like a fool, Rock, and that's the greatest insult I would never be able to bear, worse than raping me here in this place."

There was a very long silence.

"I finally understand," he said. He walked to Revy until he was looking down at her. He stared at her eyes. She stared back at his. His Devil's Glare had disappeared and what remained was only gentleness in them. Revy was stiff as she prepared herself for whatever he might do. Rock suddenly took off his wrist watch and showed it to her. He pushed the dial at the side and a short, almost invisible needle popped out from the opposite side. "This is what the Doctor called the Thanatos. It contains a drop of millions of nano-sized mechanical virus he created many years ago. It is enough to kill a person in just a minute. It travels toward the largest vessels of blood and explodes after it has absorbed enough oxygen, destroying those vessels, resulting to instant death. Now, I realize my predicament. You have your ultimate reason not to forgive me and I can only defeat it by using something ultimate myself." He reached for her hand and put the device in it. He looked at her eyes. "I have only one thing left to know if I still have a chance—death. I will wait for your reply even if it takes forever, but I will not let go of your hand so you can't go away. If you try, I'll grab the device and take the dose." He held her hand with the watch between their palms, the point directed to his palm. Then, he put his other hand against the back of her hand he was already holding.

"Are you crazy? Do you want to kill yourself over nothing?"

Rock just looked at her.

His seriousness made her panic. "You know what, because of what you're doing, I think your beloved Doctor was actually a fag. Maybe he taught you that answers were not earned through patience and should be dealt with by force. Maybe you are a fag yourself—" She gasped when she felt pressure on her hands. "Wait! Wait! Please, oh please, don't do it."

Rock lightened his grasp.

Revy didn't know what else to try. Tears began to spring from her eyes. "Why should it come to this? Why do you always make me suffer? Rock, please stop this."

"Revy, I only want a simple answer. It's either me or your pride. If you choose your pride, everything will be as what you think I made it to be. If you choose me, you only have to forget everything and let me start over again with you."

There was silence. Then after a seemingly endless time of thinking, Revy finally said, "Okay. Okay, I see your point."

To her surprise, Rock didn't let go. "Why?"

"What do you mean by why?"

"What made you say that? If you tell me it's because I'm forcing you, I won't accept it."

"Isn't it enough to just answer you? Do I really need to explain?"

"Yes."

"Hey, I don't see any reason…" She felt the pressure on her hand increasing, again. "Wait!"

Rock stopped.

"Okay. Okay." Her look had the quality of grave rebuttal and threat.

"It should better be good and convincing," Rock said. "It should better be the truth."

"Okay, so quit it. Quit terrorizing me."

Rock lightened his grip a little.

She took in a lungful of air and slowly blew it out. "Listen, I'm not sure if you'll accept this as the truth, but it's all I have." She paused and she seemed unable to continue. "I felt it. I felt you were alive. And I hate myself for believing the contrary. The root of this all, the way I'm treating you today, my tenacity in not forgiving you, just all is because I'm ashamed to you. It already occurred to me, you know. What if I suddenly met you somewhere? What would I do? What would I say? What if you asked me the reason why I didn't' search for you? When we arrived here, that thought made me uncomfortable. It became some kind of fear in me, that what if.

"I'm sorry, Rock. I gave up on you. I should have at least made an effort to know the truth. Now that it happened—this—I barely know what I'm doing." She looked up, apologetically. "Rock—"

"Thank you," he whispered, beginning to smile. Then he pressed his hand against the needle.

Revy blanched as she stood there breathlessly, staring at him with horrified eyes. "No!"

"Thank you, Revy." He dropped the watch and enclosed her in an embrace. Revy was petrified.

"Why have you…?" she muttered. "You said…"

"It's empty." He kissed her in the forehead. "I've missed you."

It was for a few moments until what Rock had said seeped into her. She let a little laugh out her mouth, embraced him back, and wept on his chest.

"Never thought that you'd be this womanish after I left."

"Never thought I'd see you, again." She looked up at him. "I've missed you, too."

…

Balalaika stood in silence at the window looking over the city, a cigar between her fingers. But the city didn't matter to her for she was in deep thought.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said.

Boris, with his constantly serious face, came in but stayed at the door, holding it open. "The car is ready, _Kapitan._"

Balalaika crushed her cigar on the crystal ashtray resting on top of the stool beside her. She turned and went to the door.

"This is it," she said.

"Yes."

She went out and Boris followed her, closing the door silently behind him.

_To be continued…_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Kidnapped!

Rock lit himself a cigarette, sucked on it, and blew. "Revy, I'm sorry but I can't see Dutch, yet."

"Why? You mean you're not coming with me?"

"No. There's something that I need to settle first."

"Then what the fuck is the use of all of these? You know, we'd have been better off if we didn't meet."

"Revy, we've already discussed that. It will not take long anyway. I will be reuniting with all of you soon. I can promise you that."

"Fuck. You know that I still don't trust you. After all the deception you did to us, how can I believe in you?" She paused for a bit. "But it's your life. Who am I to have a say?"

"Revy…"

Revy turned to the plastic bags lying on the ground. "I don't give a fuck what you do anymore." She picked up the bags.

"At least tell me where you're staying," Rock said.

"What's the use? Fuck off!"

Rock chuckled.

Revy froze as if jumped by electricity.

"'I've missed you, too,' she says," Rock smirked.

Revy marched back towards him, face on the verge of bursting. She collared him. "Listen, asshole," she hissed, "I didn't have any intention on doing that. I didn't have any control over my emotions earlier and I admit that it's strange of me to act that way." She paused, staring him in the eyes. "But I want to tell you this. Even though I'm a killer, I'm still a human being."

They stared at each other for a long time. Then Rock said, "Revy, it will not be long. I'll go and meet you soon."

Revy let him go. And then she walked off. Rock just watched her go. After a short while, she fetched a cell phone from her pocket and tossed it to Rock.

"We'll call you," she said.

"Okay," he said.

…

Inside the train, minutes later, Rock sat looking at the cell phone in his hand, expectant expression on his face.

…

Inside her car, Balalaika was quiet. She was deep in thoughts.

"…Kapitan? Kapitan?"

Boris' voice woke her up.

"Yes, Sergeant," she said.

"You seem worried of something."

"No. This is nothing."

"The last time I saw you like this, something bad happened. I think it's better to cancel this meeting."

There was silence for a while.

Balalaika said, "Sergeant, I feel like we'd not be talking with our tongues here."

"Yes. I agree."

Balalaika didn't respond.

…

After going to the bank and buying a charger for the cell phone, Rock headed home. The taxi that he took was one that could go inside Almond Hills. He had had one that couldn't and he had needed to walk four more blocks to reach home with Alejandra on his back. Now, as the cab closed in to his apartment, he felt something wrong about the place. He couldn't take his eyes off the main entrance.

"We're here," he said. "Stop."

The cab pulled up.

Rock paid up and get out of the car. He ran into the building. When he reached his room, he was breathing hard, not from exertion but from anxiety. He opened the door and was shocked at what he saw. His room had been ransacked. Drawers were empty on the floor. Cushions of seats were lying around. Cabinets and other places where a small device could be kept away had been searched. Now, he got into his room. The same had been done inside. But these things were not important in comparison for what was obviously not there. Alejandra and Roberta.

"Shit!" he hissed. "I underestimated them. I didn't think that they would find my place this fast. It hasn't been a day yet since that incident."

He walked out of his unit. And outside, waiting, with eyes swollen from crying, was his neighbor, Mrs. Conlon.

"Elizabeth," Rock greeted.

With this, Elizabeth began crying. "I'm sorry, Peter, I couldn't do anything. They were armed and scary. I didn't know what to do."

"I understand, Elizabeth. It was best you didn't try anything crazy. How many did you see enter my flat?"

"About eight, I think. I'm not sure. I hurriedly hid inside my room when I saw them come. Then I heard a woman scream. I think that was Nicole. They were hurting her." Elizabeth became emotional again. "If I was braver, if I was braver I would have called 911 but I couldn't move. I was so afraid."

Rock held her arms. "Elizabeth, what else did you notice?"

Elizabeth closed her eyes. "Then I heard someone ask Nicole something. Nicole was just saying, 'I don't know! I don't know!' Then later I heard noise inside your unit, sound of things crashing on the floor—"

"Okay. Thank you, Elizabeth. By the way, have you informed the police?"

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Oh God, I forgot to notify them."

Rock said, "No, it's better this way."

"Huh?"

"I mean you can notify the police, later. I want to do what I can do first."

Elizabeth was confused. "What are you planning? Don't tell me you're going to—"

"Everything will be okay." Rock gave her a reassuring hug. "Thank you, Elizabeth."

He walked out of the building, thinking. As he looked up at the gray sky, he took off his glasses. "Damn," he whispered.

…

The guy on the rooftop who had been watching Rock called someone on his cell phone.

"It's okay, now. His distance from the apartment is safe," he said. There was a pause. When he heard the response from the opposite line, he nodded. He sat up and took out a small remote control. He looked at the apartment building one last time and then he pressed the button. The building exploded.

Hearing the explosion, Rock turned and stared wide-eyed at the burning building. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.

He was suddenly aware of his surroundings. He jabbed a look towards anyone suspicious. Then he started to walk away in long, fast strides, keeping his vigilance.

…

As per instructions of Balalaika, Boris drove the car to where the Black Lagoon Company was staying. The people around stared at the car. Balalaika ignored them.

They arrived at the place, got out of the car, and knocked at the door. Benny opened it.

"Balalaika?"

"Boris, get the briefcase," Balalaika said.

"Balalaika," Dutch said, walking out of the kitchen. "I never thought you'd come to visit."

"I just want to personally deliver your items."

Boris came in with a leather briefcase.

"Over there," Balalaika said, pointing at the center table. To Dutch: "Your arms."

Dutch went to the briefcase and opened it. In there were Revy's twin cutlass, his magnum .357 pistol, and Benny's 9MM. Dutch inspected his gun. "Is this something urgent?"

Balalaika smiled.

"Tell me."

Minutes later, Dutch and Benny escorted their visitors out of their small dwelling. Boris held the door of the back passenger seat for Balalaika.

"Our meeting is scheduled 9 PM this evening," Balalaika said.

"Okay," Dutch said.

"I'm counting on you," she said. She went inside the car.

Dutch and Benny watched as the car pulled away.

"It's weird," Benny commented.

"What's weird?"

"I never heard her talk like that."

Dutch considered this for a long moment and then said, "She felt a storm is coming."

Balalaika's car passed Revy by as she headed towards their dwelling. She recognized it and tried to wave at Balalaika. But Balalaika didn't notice her. Revy stared at the car until it was gone. Shrugging, she continued walking.

…

It was almost two of the clock when Rock entered Okinawa. Omura didn't even take notice of him as he made his way through the tables towards the counter where Hidoshi was serving drinks. Hidoshi smiled when he saw him.

"Oh, Mr. Lane, good afternoon to you. What do you want to have?" Hidoshi said.

Rock didn't speak for a while, weighing the decision he was about to make. "Hidoshi, I want to talk to you in private."

"But aren't we already talking?" Hidoshi's funny smile began to fade. He stared at Rock for a moment. Wiping his hands with a towel, he said, "Come."

Hidoshi led Rock to the stockroom.

"What is it?" Hidoshi asked.

"I know you know who I am." Rock paused. "I know who you are."

"What? Look, Mr. Lane, I don't know what you are talking about."

"Okay, I'll explain." Rock paused. "You were supposed to be my target eight years ago. A client gave us information about you. The reason why you're still alive right now is because the Doctor turned down the job. He didn't want an honest man to die for nothing."

"No. You are mistaken, Mr. Lane. I'm not that man, I assure you."

"_You_ are Higuchi Mazakazu, the Miracle Worker of the FBI, the man behind the apprehension of Ildefonso Marciano, the leader of White Palace, the biggest factory of cocaine of the century. A client offered us a large sum for your death but the Doctor turned him down because he believed that you were a noble man. I don't know why you're here but it's not important to me right now. You're the only one who can help me."

Hidoshi looked at him, face grim. Then, he sighed.

"Higuchi-san, I need some information only you could know."

"What is it?"

"What do you know about the Claire branch of the East Coast Gang?"

Hidoshi gaped.

…

"Lewis Building, wasn't it?" Benny said.

"Yes," Dutch said.

Benny fed the name to his laptop and various pictures of a high, modern-looking building appeared on the screen.

"Do you think you can?" Dutch said, his eyes on the screen.

"This is a newly constructed building—only two years old. It should be computer operated. As long as I can find a portal, it will be piece of cake."

The door opened and Revy came in with her purchase. "I'm sorry I'm late. Traffic." She put everything on the kitchen counter. She began rummaging for her and Dutch's cigarette in one plastic bag. "Nobody is going to scold me?" Revy got the cigarettes and started towards the two men. "What are you doing?"

"We got a job," Dutch said.

"Good, 'cause I'm really bored right now. From whom?"

"Balalaika."

"Balalaika? Isn't it a little too early?"

"I thought the same."

Benny smiled. "It involves you having to wear skirt and high heels."

"Oh. What could this mission be?" she said, calmly, lighting herself a cigarette.

Benny and Dutch looked at her.

"What? What did I say?"

The two men looked at each other for a while. Then they shrugged.

"Your cutlasses are in the briefcase," Dutch said. "Be prepared. We're going to have a long night."

…

"The place is well guarded. Security is tight. Their patrons are those who are included in the upper class," Hidoshi was saying. "It's a prostitution den for the rich. You will not have easy access."

"Is it possible if I pretend to be a customer?"

"There are no walk-in customers in that place. All go through a pre-registration for membership. If you don't have a name in the society, it's impossible to have the right to register. If you're planning to go inside, you need to meet the guards head-on which, I think, would be the worst thing you could do."

"I don't have a choice," Rock said. "Hidoshi, do you have weapons?"

Hidoshi was horrified. "What? Are you crazy? Are you planning to enter through the front gate?"

"Answer my question."

"You're insane. No, I don't have weapons."

"Where can I find some?"

Hidoshi sighed in exasperation. "In Chinatown. Here, let me give you a referral." He scribbled something on the receipt pad he always carried, torn the leaf, and gave it to Rock. "It's only fifteen minutes by train."

Rock took the paper. "Thank you."

"I hope I could see you again."

"I'll see you, again."

…

Benny looked around as he got off the black car. Lewis Building loomed before him, tall and sparkling. He could only see a single attendant at the revolving door. Security seemed not too tight. It was four thirty-three in the afternoon.

"All set?" Dutch asked. He was the driver.

"Seems like everything will go smoothly."

"You look good."

Benny chuckled. He was wearing a black suit. "Every now and then."

"Fuckers," Revy said as she got off from the back seat. "This is the last time I'm going to let this pass. I thought you were just…" She checked herself up. "Fuck."

Revy was wearing a professional black-blazer-over-white-blouse and black skirt attire. Her hair was pony-tailed and her posture was accentuated by the two-inch heels of her shoes.

"You look gorgeous, Revy," Benny said.

"Shut up! Come on and let's get this over with." Revy got two briefcases from the trunk.

Benny got his laptop from the passenger seat. "You know, I still can't believe you knew how to walk in heels."

"I'm not dumb. Big Sis always wears a pair. Now, come on!" Revy marched off.

"So, Dutch, we're off," Benny said.

"Good luck."

"You too, with your role."

"Okay." Dutch pulled away.

The lobby's architecture was elegant, high-ceilinged and modern. It was spacious. From both directions, few people walked by. No one seemed to mind them.

Benny walked to the front desk. "Hi! I'm Richard Canary from Telecommunications Division of the Mayor's Office. I'm here for a late-year inspection of the hotel's monitoring system," he said, while showing his fake ID.

An expression of wariness crossed the attendant's face. "Okay, sir. Please wait for a while. I should inform the General Manager about this first. Please have a seat."

"No, we're fine. We'll wait here."

"Okay." The attendant phoned in. After a while, without putting the phone down, he said to Benny, "The manager is asking if you have a letter of request with you."

"No, we don't have," Benny said. "But I'll let you call the office. Here." Benny gave his cell phone to the attendant. "Dial one."

The attendant stared at him for a while. He mumbled something to the phone and waited. A moment later, he connected Benny's cell phone to a laptop, fumbled with the keyboard, and dialed one. The call was picked up.

"Mayor's Office, good afternoon." It was Dutch on the line. They could hear him from the built-in speakers of the laptop.

"Sir, could I speak with the mayor?" Another voice said on the line. This one was older and soft-spoken.

"The mayor cannot be reached at the moment. I'm sorry but please try your call later." The line was cut.

There was a moment of silence as the attendant listened for instructions.

The attendant put the laptop over the desk facing Benny. The manager appeared on the screen.

"Good afternoon, sir, I'm Edmund Trump, the general manager."

"Hi," said Benny, pretending to be annoyed.

"As you might know, already, establishments seek for request letters from representatives of different agencies for us to secure ourselves from impostors—"

"Do you think I'm an impostor?" Benny barked.

"No, sir, no, but—"

Benny exhaled loudly. "Okay. Alright. I'm sorry. Then, if you please just sign this one…" Benny produced a document from his briefcase and handed it over to the attendant. "Just a proof that we visited this establishment, sir."

"Fax it in, Morris," Trump said.

Trump was horrified after reading the document. "Sir, what is the meaning of this?"

"I don't have the authority to confirm it to you," Benny said. "Call the office, if you please."

"Morris."

The attendant dialed one.

"Mayor's Office, good afternoon," Dutch said.

"Sir, may I speak—"

"The mayor is busy. I'm sorry but could you try your call later?"

"W-wait! Wait! Don't put it down, please!"

"What is it?"

"There's a man here calling himself Mr. Richard Canary from Telecommunications Division—"

"Oh, that again. I'm sorry if we couldn't produce enough request letters from the office. As you see, the mayor is too busy to sign them so we have no choice but to open the line and confirm every caller who is asking for confirmation. Sir, that visit is official. May I inform you that if you don't grant permission, you shall be listed as a suspect of non-compliance to the Law and shall be forced to stop operating until proven otherwise? Good day." The line was cut.

Trump blanched. "Could I please see your ID, sir?" he told Benny.

Benny held his ID in front of the built-in camera of the laptop. When he was sure Trump had a look at the Mayor's Office' seal, he rotated it and showed the mayor's signature.

"I'm very sorry for doubting you, sir," Trump said at last.

A triumphant smile curved on Benny's lips but he tried his best to hide it.

The monitor room was a small room in the basement. It was bare except for the flat-screen monitors on the wall. There were twelve. Two guards served as watchers.

Benny was observing the monitors which were big enough to be divided into ten smaller screens while still keeping the quality of the picture acceptable. Scanning them, Benny decided that no camera was installed inside any room.

Revy was observing the monitor room, too.

"The place seems empty," Benny commented.

"Yes, sir," said one of the guards. "We are under renovations and only few floors are serviceable."

"Under renovations?"

"It may not seem like it, but yes. We're working on the interiors."

Benny nodded, absently. Better, he thought.

…

"Good job," a man's voice said. The man was in the shadows, inside the General Manager's office.

Trump turned toward the man. "I didn't expect this."

"No, no. It's fine. It will be more of a trouble if we raise suspicion at this point."

Trump exhaled. "Okay."

"Old man, I expect you to cooperate, completely. This is only for this day."

"I know."

_To be continued…_


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Peace Before The Storm

Two hours had passed. She still couldn't grasp this "bloody meeting" or "war" Dutch had talked about. Back at Roanapur, Balalaika had briefed them about this meeting between her and a well-known Mafioso here in America. But what they were doing now didn't make any sense. Why had Balalaika chosen to carry on with it if she had already felt something was wrong?

"Sir, may I go out for a while?" she asked Benny.

"Go on. Just don't take too long." Benny didn't even look at her as she exited the room.

As light flooded her sight, the events that had transpired that morning came back to her consciousness. It was still hard for her to believe that everything was true. After all this time, being in the dark, groping for something to give her strength to go on, she had suddenly met Rock. She couldn't believe her eyes. Even her perpetual calmness in tense situations had been shattered in his presence.

She shivered when she recalled about those cheesy lines she had told him. She couldn't help clenching her teeth when she remembered herself being in its weakest. Why had she let herself be led into a corner? She could have avoided him, run away from him, but still she had chosen to stay and confront him. Why?

She couldn't think of the answer. But she was grateful she had stayed. It had been the right thing to do. She believed that she would have regretted everything if she had run away and had listened not to what he had to say. Now, she understood his reasons. There was nothing left to ask about his departure.

The only thing that still bothered her was herself. She had now in her heart a feeling she still couldn't place. This morning, Rock had triumphed over her, breaking her into a docile girl, even making her cry. Since six years old, she had lived like a boy. Nobody had made her cry, not even close to making her docile. But Rock had done it. If he had been another guy, she would have killed him.

She had been exposed to almost everything with relation to her world. The only thing she had believed in all her life was to kill or be killed. It had nourished her mind and made her heart useful only to its basic responsibility which was to pump blood, nothing more. Her surroundings had carved in her brain that the most important things were money and guns. However…

"I guess people do change," she muttered. She found the restroom and went in.

…

Hidoshi sat on the concrete platform at the door of his restaurant. He got himself a cigarette from his pack and lit it. It was already dark. Post lamps were illuminating the street while they were hovered around by bugs curious about their light. Omura was covering up the windows.

"To think that he actually knew me…geez," Hidoshi muttered.

Omura looked at him, briefly, but went back on placing the wooden board over one of the windows.

"Omura, when you first saw Mr. Lane, what was your first impression?"

"Boss?"

"What did you feel when he first came here?"

Omura finished what he was doing. "He ignited my interest. He was an intriguing guy."

"Is that so? So that means we share the same first impressions." He puffed some smoke. "I first saw him in June, in front of the Crest Bach Tower, while he was waiting for a cab. I just came back from my intelligence gathering when we met. There were other people around but strangely my eyes caught him easily as if he was a beacon of sort. He wasn't wearing any expensive stuff or anything but I noticed him, immediately. That time I only had one thing in mind: that man shouldn't be left alone."

And he unraveled the events to Omura as detailed as possible.

Hidoshi had been in a hurry that time when suddenly his eyes caught something in the distance. He had been an undercover agent all his life to not be able to distinguish correctly between the polished and the unpolished gems of a lot. Gradually, his steps slowed. The man didn't attempt to move to another place.

He got a crumpled cigarette from his pocket. "Bro, can I have a light?"

At the sight of the man's malevolent pair of eyes, he stepped back.

"Excuse me?" the man was now smiling at him.

Hidoshi stared at the man's eyes. The killing intent in them was gone. At that very moment, he decided that the man was a professional. In what field, he could just guess. He showed him his disheveled cigarette.

"Oh," the man said. He gave Hidoshi his lighter.

Hidoshi took a lungful of air, careful not to look too shaken at the sight of the stranger's eyes. "Thank you very much." He gave back the lighter and puffed some smoke. "You're new, right? I'm a resident near this place and I easily notice new guys. Your face is not familiar to me."

"Yeah. I have just been hired. I'll be working in this building starting tomorrow."

"Wow! Crest Bach! Amazing! You know, if I were young again, I would have applied for a job in that prestigious building. Did you know that four of the most influential companies in the world have offices in there?"

"Yeah, I heard so."

"What's with that lack of interest? You should be grateful for it, man! Tell me. What office got you?"

"Robins and Associates."

"Whoa! That's great! It's the one who spends so much on its employees' salary. You're a lucky guy! Congratulations!"

"Oh, thank you."

Hidoshi puffed some smoke, covertly observing the stranger. There was silence for a while. Then he said, "Are you Japanese?"

"Yes I am."

"What a delight! Hi! My name is Nobunaga Hidoshi. I'm from Shinjuku in Tokyo! Pleased to meet you!" he said in Japanese.

The stranger smiled. "Pleased to meet you, too. I'm Peter Lane. Don't find it weird, okay. My mother despised anything Japanese for some reason so she insisted I use this name."

"Don't worry. It's not that important. Names are just names. Anyway, because you just made my day and I really really want to welcome any fellow countrymen who would be adrift here in New York, I will treat you to lunch. I got a small ramen house just behind that building."

"Well, thank you. I won't be refusing something like that."

…

"He became a patron beginning that day," Hidoshi was now saying. "It was as if he just innocently came to like our food, very casual in his manners, never giving up any hint of anything that would incite suspicion. But that perfect camouflage itched me the more. So I researched his background, using every bit of connection I have, every resource I could get my hands on. At first my efforts weren't bearing any fruits so there was a time that I almost believed I could have judged him wrongly. However, after two months, I stumbled upon a folio containing criminals with government immunity. From there I found everything about him. I couldn't believe my eyes. The reason that he was like a beacon the first time I saw him, the reason that I became uneasy in his presence, and the reason I didn't let him get away from my sight was because he was an elite assassin even the United States of America had acknowledged. The only remaining survivor of the Kutzmann Laboratory, Cold Knife."

There was silence as Hidoshi finished his cigarette. He noticed that Omura became serious and had gotten his eyes busy over the hilt of his sword. Telling about Rock seemed to have worked him up.

"Mr. Hidoshi."

He looked at Omura.

"You know my history and I'm very grateful for your keeping me in your custody for the past two years. I'm not in the position to suggest anything but today I want to express my desire. I smell blood in the air and this sword is not sharp enough yet to overwhelmingly win a battle. If I let it that way, this might be the last battle this sword would have." He looked at Hidoshi. "I want to be of assistance to this sword."

Hidoshi considered everything he had heard while studying if there might be a chance that Omura was bluffing. When he saw he was very sincere, he shook his head. "Okay. After all, I'm starting to get bored poking my nose in other people's business, so why not? We need some exercise anyway."

With a fast, sudden motion, Omura made a vertical slash with his sword.

The glint of murder showed in Hidoshi's eyes. "Well, well, well, you seemed to be really fired up."

As they both got in the restaurant, the moth that had been hovering between them, that was now motionless on the ground, split in two, as if an invisible sword went through its body.

…

The place was dark and had no windows so Roberta only knew what time it was from the count she had started when they were abducted. _It's already seven-thirty three,_ she thought. She had been separated from Nicole. A black man had taken her here, locked shackles on her wrists and ankles, then left. As she examined the room where she was now confined, a feeling of helplessness occurred to her. How did it end like this?

But she could justify her actions. Rock had been very specific about Nicole's safety. If she had fought, Nicole would have been killed. If she had escaped, Rock would have killed her. There was no other choice but to be taken as well. Somehow an opportunity might show itself in the dark. The only thing that was bothering her was why they had kept her alive.

There were footsteps coming from the door. She saw light drift in through the crack below it. With a loud groan, the door opened and a man went in with a plate in hand. As he came, the first she noticed was the keys on his waist. She grinned to herself.

"Hi, miss," the middle-aged American said. "I brought you some food."

"Where am I? Where's Nicole?" she asked.

"You're inside our castle, miss. Your friend has done us some pretty foolish stuff so she's being served above. You should eat. Your beauty will be wasted if you become skinny."

"What are you planning to do to us?"

The man put the food down on the ground, went to lock the door, and came back. "Well, you see, we are an organization and we make use of beauty as our capital. We believe that a beautiful girl should not waste what she is born to be to such non-sense as an academic-based profession. Beautiful women are here to give pleasure to men. Leave the ugly ducklings to serve the society. But girls like you should serve us." The man inspected her and lust slowly began to distort his face. "I'm so lucky I have this opportunity with you. So before anyone has a taste of you, I'll have my first bite."

The man groped under her skirt, feeling her thighs.

"No! Leave me alone!" she said.

"That's my girl! This way it would be more challenging."

Roberta set her mind now. She let the man do as he wanted while pretending to keep a futile resistance against his advances. Now the man was busy on her chest, not realizing yet that her moans and pleadings were fake. She had only one objective: to get the keys. She had to endure. She would take the man first to his weakest state before she could do anything in her condition. And that was when he was in his happiest moment. So she let him. Disgusting it might be but she had no other choice. She was not a superhuman to break thick chains.

Now the man pulled his pants down. Then, like a wolf that hadn't had meat for a year, he put himself over her body and began to busy himself on the final task.

"No…no…please…" Roberta was saying. "Please don't…"

"As if I still can. You are so sexy! You are the prettiest girl I have ever fucked!" The man focused on his task, and then with a fast thrust went inside her.

Roberta made a whimper. For years, she hadn't had any sex. She didn't expect it to hurt like this. But she ignored the pain. Only a little more. Just a little more and she would be devouring this man alive.

The man started to move. Casually, she put her legs around his torso.

"Oh, so you're getting worked up!"

This continued for a while until finally the chance came. For the first time, the man leaned over to kiss her. With proper timing, she launched her head forward and took a chunk out of the man's neck. The force of her jaw was so strong that she almost severed the man's neck. Blood oozed and showered her face red. His eyes dug in his skull. And in an instant, he became limp.

The next steps were no sweat for her. She released herself from the shackles and walked out of the room.

To be continued…


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Let the Bullet Talk

Balalaika and Dutch arrived. Benny saw them on the screen for cameras dedicated to the lobby. Balalaika had her army coat and her countenance was rock-hard.

"Um, sir, will you excuse me for a while?" the remaining guard said. The other guard had already taken his leave.

Benny barely heard him. "Sure."

Revy had a feeling while she watched the guard exit the room. When the guard was out, she said, "Doesn't it look weird?"

"Yeah, I know. I haven't notice other employees around other than the reception guy since seven fifty." He paused. "They know that criminal organizations will hold a meeting here."

Revy was quiet for a while.

"But why even the security are leaving?" she said.

Benny seemed to want to answer but all he could do was look at her. He shook his head. "Finding that out has no purpose for now. We better get to work. Revy, they will be occupying room 2210. You should station yourself at room 2204. And don't use the elevator. We don't know when the other mafia is going to arrive."

"I know! You don't have to repeat it over and over again!"

"Okay. And one more thing. Never let your guard down."

The scene where Rock was kissing her popped out on her mind.

"Yes!" she said louder than usual.

"Huh?"

"Damn it. I can't take him off my mind. I need to concentrate," she muttered to herself.

"Hey, Revy."

"I got it, okay. I got it."

Benny wasn't convinced.

"I'm off." She picked up one of the suitcases and went out of the monitoring room.

…

"This is quite the hotel," Dutch said, breaking the silence.

"Everything has been calculated. I won't be exaggerating if I say that even the aesthetic aspect of this hotel has been taken into consideration."

"Are you really convinced that he is planning something underhanded?"

"I don't trust anyone other than my men."

"Funny that you still accepted this meeting."

"Let's just say that Monroe intrigued me."

They both entered the empty elevator. Dutch pushed the button "22."

…

On top of the adjacent building, Boris, in his black jumpsuit, checked if everything was going smoothly as planned. He talked Russian on his mouthpiece.

"Comrades, are you all in position?"

"Yes. Everyone has his position as instructed."

"Very good."

Boris looked through his binocular. Room 2210 was still unoccupied. Satisfied, he busied himself in assembling his sniper rifle. Fifteen seconds passed. Now, he was looking through the sight telescope of the gun aimed at the center table of the lounge area of the meeting room.

…

Revy went to change in the comfort room. She took off the office attire which she had worn over her usual clothing-her tank top and shorts. Now, she put on her boots that she had kept inside the large suitcase. She got her twin cutlass out, checked them, and put them in their holsters.

Finished with changing, she stood up and inspected herself on the mirror, looking carefully at her face. She had never been conscious with her appearance before. But she had to admit that she had a nice face, a quite attractive face with smooth Asian features. For a while she just stared until she thought of pulling her ponytail off. The red hair cascaded down her shoulders. She inspected the face on the mirror and the wavy hair which now served as its background made it more attractive. Embarrassed at what she was seeing, she blushed.

"Damn it! What the fuck am I doing?"

She got herself some ammo, two grenades, and a flashbang from the suitcase and went out.

…

The twenty-second floor was abandoned. Dutch stood guard at room 2210, studying the area. Balalaika was already inside, standing at the window, talking to Boris on the microphone that was on her bra. She wouldn't hear any response since she hadn't put her earpiece on. Boris, on the rooftop, listened attentively.

"When you notice anything out of place, move," she said. "Make sure you kill Monroe. I'm counting on you." After that, she sat herself at the table.

…

When Revy reached the twenty-second floor, she was covered with sweat and slightly out of breath. At the far end, the elevator opened. Two men in black suit got out. She stared at them. Noticing her stare, the man with the long hair put out his gun and approached her.

"Alfonso, stop. We are not here to kill guests," the blond man said.

"She's suspicious. What if she is with them? We should kill her now."

"If she is with them, the more trouble we will get. We need to get their trust first, remember. Cool down. Don't lose focus."

Alfonso glared at Revy. "You're lucky, woman!" He put his gun back inside his coat and walked off.

"You're the lucky one, motherfucker," Revy muttered.

…

After a few minutes of waiting, the door of 2210 opened. Balalaika stood up to welcome the blond man who entered in.

"Good evening, Mr. Monroe," Balalaika said, offering her hand for a shake.

The blond man took it. "Good evening to you, too. Please have a seat." He went to the counter. "What do you like to drink?"

"Anything. Whatever you prefer."

"Okay, then. Let's have wine." He came back with a bottle of Chateau Petrus and two goblets. He filled the goblets and offered one to Balalaika.

Balalaika took a sip. "Such an expensive wine for someone like me."

The blond man sat himself across her. "Don't be so humble, my dear. After all, you are my chosen one."

"I'm flattered. But," she put the goblet down, "let us not waste time and let's go down to business. Why did you ask for Hotel Moscow?"

The blond man put his goblet down and crossed his legs. He pulled out a cigar case out his coat and got one. He offered one to Balalaika. She accepted, thanking him. Using his metal lighter, he lit hers first and then his.

"Well, you see, I've been watching you for the last two years. It all started as a rumor. I heard about a young drug syndicate in Southeast Asia who already shared a throne with the infamous Triad and Colombian Cartel. You see, when you hear about the Triad, you only think about opium and cocaine. They're number one in Asia, no question about it. Only the Colombian Cartel has been able to match them in sales. Even the American Mafia cannot touch them in their turf. But when I heard about a Russian Organization, _Russian,_ sharing a seat with them, I was startled. Shock even.

"How could this be? I mean, how could the Triad and the Cartel let this small fry have a piece of their territory? Are they only using it to boost their power?" He paused. "No. They are not. They are letting it have power because it is powerful. I was really intrigued. So I sent a spy. And after two years, I found out your _modus operandi. _You use elite, war veteran, armed forces.

"Well, that's very rational. Who would be able to match fifty or more seasoned soldiers of war led by a brilliant commander in a battle? Even a thousand enemies would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it? If one makes a move to destroy you, that group could lose many men that will drastically weaken it. The other one will be just waiting for the weakened winning group and then bite off to monopolize the trade. Do you think a businessman would take such a risk? No. Definitely not…"

"I get your point. I don't want to hear a long story that doesn't make sense to this meeting. Tell me what you want from us."

The blond man blew some smoke, took his goblet of wine, stood up, and went to the window, thinking. Balalaika observed him, trying hard to control her impatience.

Boris was relieved to see the blonde man appear from the window. The shot would be easier to make that way, not that he could not do it, otherwise. He aimed the crosshair at the forehead of the blond man.

"Well, you see, this information is very troubling for us. We don't want to overlook a baby shark and then get bitten in the future. So the point is…" the blond man rotated on his heel, fetched a pistol from his pocket, and aimed it at Balalaika, grinning evilly, "You're here to be annihilated."

Boris made the shot. The blond man crashed face first to the floor, blood oozing from the single hole at the center of his head.

Balalaika went to the corpse and poured her wine on its head. "Bitch." She put on her earpiece. "Boris, move now."

Suddenly, the power went out. Emergency lights went on, but they were not the usual standard lights. These bright lights which were installed in the room had been unusually deactivated. What was only visible were a number of red beacons which were only lit if no other light was available.

"I'm not expecting this. Benny, what is happening?" Balalaika asked.

"I don't know. The power just went out. Don't worry, the main computers are run by a generator. It is a requirement. I will try to diagnose and repair the problem but it will take some time. Please bear with me. What's the situation over there?"

"Monroe is dead, but obviously, considering the situation, this one is fake. Hurry up. I'm meeting with Revy and Dutch."

"Okay."

As Boris was about to leave and join the force, he noticed something from the corner of his eye. Some black clad men were rappelling down from the rooftop of the Lewis Building. He loaded his sniper, aimed, and fired. He shot one. But this didn't stop the others from continuing. He loaded another round. However, as he was leveling his gun, a bullet grazed his cheek. He was spotted. A counter-sniper was shooting at him from the rooftop of the Lewis Building!

"Kapitan, get out of the room, now!" he said.

"What?"

"Enemies are going in through the windows! You are in danger! Get out of the room!"

But he was too late. Eight black clad men broke through the windows of the room 2210 by kicking the glass with their hard boots. Balalaika was startled at the sight.

"Close your eyes!" The voice came from the door. As she was about to look for whom it had come from, she saw a flash grenade in the air. Instinctively, she dashed for the door as it went off to drown the entire room with blinding white light.

"Come on! Come on!" Revy pulled Balalaika by the hand. Dutch stayed for a bit to toss a grenade inside before catching up with them. The grenade exploded, destroying the door. The impact threw Alfonso's dead body to the wall.

"I'm glad you kill the fag!" Revy said.

"I wasn't planning to keep him alive in the first place," Dutch replied.

"So, this is what it is then, eh, Anego?"

Balalaika didn't answer.

"It's the police, isn't it?" Dutch supplied.

"Yes," Balalaika said.

"So, we're in deep shit."

"What?" Revy was confused. "What police? Those guys?"

Balalaika ignored her. "Benny, what's the development?"

"I'm sorry but the system has been locked. I cannot run the generator," Benny said. "The only thing that I can do now is to keep track of you. Luckily, I have copied the building's master plan before the black out. The only setback, I won't be able to tell where the enemy is since only the team has the tracing device."

"It's good enough. I expected this much, anyway. Where is the team now?"

"The first wave is on the third floor by now. I—"

Balalaika heard gunshots in the background. "Something is already starting over there?"

"I think so."

"Will you be all right?"

"I think so. Don't worry, I trust your men. Three are standing guard for me here."

On the first floor, there was an exchange of shots that was going on. The Mafia that had been hiding in chosen rooms ambushed their enemies. Two of the Visotonikis were wounded. Five of the mobs were killed. The gunshots were occurring more and more frequently now. Tension was fast rising.

To be continued…


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Savior

The night was cold and the moon was hiding behind thick clouds in the sky. The surrounding was quiet except for the sound of cars that occasionally arrived. It was almost 9 PM. The parking lot was almost full of cars, now. Only one thing didn't seem right. You could not see anyone except for two young men smoking at the far end of the place.

Rock was puzzled. If the place was an important place, shouldn't it have more guards? He again observed the place. He found no other men except for the two. He started to move. He picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it at a car. This alarmed the two young men. They pulled out their guns and approached the origin of the sound. They looked around the surrounding.

Finding no one, the tall one said, "Damn, motherfucker! I thought someone was really here. It got me nervous for a second, man."

"It might be hail. In this kind of weather, that is not impossible."

"Yeah, come on. Where were we? Oh yeah, about this chick…"

Rock watched them as they left. Then when they passed his hiding place without noticing him, he silently crept behind them and slashed their head off with his katana. He didn't even give them time to react. Their heads fell to the ground, eyes wide with expression of extreme shock."

Rock watched as the bodies fell on the cold pavement. Blood dropped from the katana's blade and created a rhythmic tap on the ground. Like a curious audience, the moon took a peek from the clouds. It cast its white light on his face.

His face was not a face of an ordinary man, now. Under the silver light of the moon was the face of a demon.

He pulled the corpses under a car parked at the darkest corner of the parking lot. After this, he changed his clothes.

…

Three hours before all of this…

Rock entered the small shop which address was written on the piece of paper Hidoshi had given him. He was in China town. The shop was dark and no one was around except for an old Chinese man who was cleaning a pistol on a little table near the window. He approached the Chinese and showed him the small piece of paper. The Chinese looked up at him.

"What can I do for you?"

"Mr. Hidoshi said you could help me."

"What do you need?"

"Weapons."

"I don't sell that kind of stuff here, sorry. This is just a simple antique shop."

Rock kept quiet for a few moments. "You don't need to worry about money. I have money and I can pay you a considerable amount for the items."

The Chinese became serious. "You don't understand. Even if you have money, I don't have the items you need. Please, leave, sir."

What should he do? Should he coerce this man? But that would just cause more resistance. He knew that the Chinese was lying. He could smell blood from him. Something was not right.

He considered the situation for a while. The Chinese seemed to be waiting for something from him. Maybe some kind of password or code only a few he trusted knew. Then suddenly the answer came.

He took off his shirt to show a brand above his navel. It was a square that had a big letter "K" in it and near the diagonal leg of the letter a period. This was the symbol for the Kutzmann Laboratory.

The Chinese was astonished in seeing the brand. In what he could see, Rock deduced that the old man knew of the symbol.

"I need your help," he said.

The Chinese stood up. "Certainly. Follow me."

The Chinese led him into a room where a lot of antique was stored. Then, the old man approached the wall and pushed a Buddha statue aside. A secret passage opened. "Come," he said.

Rock followed him into a medium sized room full of armaments.

"Take your time," the Chinese said. Without saying another word, the old man turned and left.

The rifles were stacked neatly on shelves. He could see all sorts, from sniper rifles to sub-machine guns. But what he paid more attention to were the pistols. In a glass display, a variety of .45 caliber pistols were lying side by side. But these guns were not the ordinary kind. It was a selection of popular high powered pistols that had the capacity to pulverize an arm with a single bullet. He chose the most powerful he could think of, a pair of Mark XIX Desert Eagles. After gathering enough ammo and magazines, he next went over to the blade section. He picked up a katana with a 20-inch blade that had no hilt and two Israeli twin daggers. The last things that he picked up were two hand grenades, a flashbang grenade, and six smoke screen bombs. He put everything in a suitcase before he went out.

When he met with the Chinese again, he immediately put out his checkbook and signed a $ 75, 000 check. He handed over the check and thanked the Chinese.

"Sir, this is too big," the Chinese said in surprise.

"It's okay."

"No. I don't feel okay with this. Please, tell me, sir. I want to be of more service to you."

"Okay. If you have information about the Claire Branch of the East Coast Gang, I will be more than happy."

"Oh, that. You're against a very dangerous society. If your next assassination will take place inside, I recommend that you do not barge in, carelessly. Every night a party takes place in there. The guests come from all over the world; businessmen, politician, royal bloods. Every one of them has a place in the upper society. The place is well-guarded, I heard, but the guests don't undergo any frisking or inspection so as not to be rude. Besides, the administrator seems to be overconfident about his guards. But be careful, anyhow. Here," he put out a white mask that would hide the eyes. It had a Latin inscription written around the edges. "That is a mask that every member of their club wears. It's a requirement for anyone to enter. I'll give it to you for free."

"How can I trust you? I don't know you."

"I don't lie to people like you. Besides, Kutzmann's Laboratory is special. I know how efficient you are. I've already seen a lot of things in this world. I don't want to die because of a useless lie. Trust in me."

Rock measured the old man for a while and then decided to do what he'd been told.

…

Rock entered the door into the building. Now, he was wearing a black tuxedo under a black overcoat. He was also wearing the mask that the Chinese had given him.

At the end of the corridor, there was an escalator and it was high and gently sloped (the ceiling was not high enough as well) that he couldn't see the end of it. He rode it and waited for about a minute before he arrived at the bottom. Immediately, a short man approached him and stared intensely at his mask, reading the inscription on the edges. Afterwards, the man raised his left arm. A black, luxurious car pulled up in front of him. The short man opened the back door and gestured for him to get in. He sat himself on the backseat.

"Enjoy your stay," the short man said.

Rock nodded. And then the car pulled away.

The road was spiral and he was getting uneasy with it. Where the hell was the driver taking him?

The driver was silent with what he was doing. The place was dark, only lit by few electric lamps that he estimated to be ten meters from each other.

"Mister, I'm a new customer. I want to ask where you are taking me."

"We're going to the mansion, sir."

"Mansion? Underground?"

"Yes, sir. It is a mansion built by the organization underground. Don't worry. You will understand once we get there."

After two minutes, they arrived at a dead end.

"We're here, sir," the driver said. He hastily got out, opening the door for Rock. "Follow me, sir."

They went in front of the wall. The driver fetched a card from his pocket and inserted it into a slit that no one would see except if they paid enough attention to find it. After that, a number pad appeared next to the slit. The driver punched some numbers and waited.

A few moments later, Rock heard the sound of rolling gears. Then, the center part of the wall depressed and opened to reveal a tunnel only two persons could walk side by side in.

"This is it for me, sir. I'm not allowed to go further. When you reached the end of the tunnel, someone will pick you up."

"Thank you."

Warily, Rock took his first step in. The tunnel, opposed to the spiral road, was well lit with fluorescent lamps. He had no problem getting to the opposite end.

When he arrived, two provocatively dressed young girls welcomed him. He looked at their faces. They were void of emotions. In an instant, he remembered what Alejandra had told him about the place. It was a child prostitution den.

He let them guide him to a large gate. Immediately, two camera-like devices came out on top of each column. The two devices aimed their lens on his mask. Then, they hid in, again.

He heard a loud unlocking sound coming from the other side of the gate. A second later, the gate opened.

A spectacular sight greeted him. Where he was now was a huge cave he estimated to be five times bigger than the Staples Center, in Los Angeles. He couldn't help but be amazed. It was surreal. At the center of the space, there proudly stood a ten-storey mansion. The architecture took him back into the Renaissance period. It was very elegant and beautiful that nobody would believe he or she was in the real world.

"Sir," the girl holding his right hand softly said. "Let's go."

They resumed walking. As he walked, he observed the surroundings. He saw men standing around carrying with them high-caliber automatic rifles. He realized for the first time that his mission was not that easy.

Suddenly, the two girls stopped.

"We can't take you further, sir. It's you alone from here on."

"Okay. Thank you very much."

When he started to walk, he felt that their hands were not letting go. "What's wrong?"

"Sir," the girl on the right looked at him with her emotionless eyes. She pulled his hand towards her vagina. "You can do us, if you like."

Rock gently pulled his hand away and patted the girl's cheek. He smiled. "Don't worry. Your nightmare ends today." With that, he strode away.

The two girls didn't care. Like mechanical robots, they went back to the gate.

He trod on the red brick path to the mansion. There was a garden on each side, with bushes cut into the shape of animals. A large fountain of Greek Gods was in front, making the place more elegant and lavish. He reached the yard and passed by some of the guests who were having a conversation outside. He felt like watching a movie about prince and princesses with what he was seeing. They were all well-groomed and had the graceful movements of the upper class. No one seemed to notice his presence.

Finally, he reached the main entrance. A butler opened the door for him. He went in and was taken aback with the disgusting sight that greeted him.

In front of him were naked bodies having sex. The only wrong thing about it was that the older people had a very young partner. Rock was controlling his anger while watching them. The laughs and moans coming from them were hellish in his ears.

He snapped. Rapidly, he fetched his guns from his overcoat and shot the head of the fat man in front of him. The fat man's head was thrown to the wall. The guards who were standing at the corners of the large hall didn't know what to do for a few moments because of shock. Surely, this was the first time that something like this happened. Easily, Rock gunned down four of them. Some men regained their composure but were too late. Rock was just too quick for them. Rock made a fast rotation and shot at the rate of four bullets a second. His accuracy was flawless. He either hit them in the head or in the heart. Every second two fell down.

Only fifteen seconds had passed but no guard was on his feet by now.

"Hey, what's happening here?" a middle-aged woman asked. She pushed away the young boy from her. "If this is an added spectacle, then it's not helping me get into the mood. Who's in charge?"

Rock walked over to her. "Oh, sorry. This isn't an added spectacle, ma'am. This is 'exorcism'."

"Wha—"

But before she could finish, Rock put his gun in her mouth and coldly pulled the trigger.

The others were now aware of the situation. They began to panic. Only the children remained on the floor without a care in the world.

"Help! Open the door."

But it was too late. Five seconds was all Rock need to kill them all. Then, suddenly, he heard a burst of bullets behind him. He turned swiftly, ready with his guns. What he saw surprised him a bit. A crying girl was shooting a guard with a carbine rifle. The guard finally dropped the pistol he was holding and backed off as he caught every bullet with his body. At the last burst of bullets, he went through the window and dropped on the ground with a loud thud.

The girl suddenly ran and hugged Rock. "He was trying to kill you! He was trying to kill you!"

"It's okay now. Don't worry."

"They were trying to hurt us, again. I was scared."

Rock smiled in compassion. He rubbed the girl's head. "Hey, you find a safe place to hide, okay. Later, I'll come back for you."

The screams outside became louder.

_Now what will I do? They already know I'm here. Oh, well._ Smiling, he gently pushed the girl away. "Come on. Hide yourself. I will settle something first."

The girl nodded and obediently hid inside the bathroom.

Rock picked up two carbines from the floor. As he checked the ammo of each rifle, he again felt lonely. Like at those missions, he was always alone. But opposed to how it had been before, today it was daunting. He didn't consider it now as something he should be relieved about. _But it's okay,_ he thought. _I'm used to it._ He got to the window and aimed outside.

It was unexpected. Gunshots in measured intervals resonated from the outside. When he looked at where it was coming from, he saw a tall woman holding a rifle. Hunkering on her side was a blonde man in a camouflage suit, an AK-47 on his shoulder. And behind, the grinning Hidoshi stood with Omura.

"I haven't expected a development like this," a voice suddenly said. He turned on where it came from and found that it was the butler's. The butler showed him an ID that had CIA printed on it. "It looks like the judgment has come."

Rock was startled. "Ben? Ben Rudolph?"

"Yeah. Come on, leave the chat for later. Do what you need to do. I'll take care of the kids."

He smiled. "Yes. Thanks."

"Don't thank me. I owe you so much. Don't make me feel guilty about it."

"Okay." He began to climb up the stairs.

"Hey, Knife."

Rock stopped to hear him out.

"Nice to see you alive, buddy."

He smiled and left.

To be continued…


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Floors' Obstacles

The hallways from the dungeon up to the first floor were such a mess. They were full of dead men lying on the floor with their necks broken, ribs fractured, and abdomen full of bullet holes. The place was sickening to look at with the dead faces of men gaping in shock and confusion, as if their souls were trapped inside, asking for redemption.

But Roberta was composed even though she was amidst this scenery. She had stolen a shotgun from the warden's office which she had been using up till now. She stood with blood all over her clothes. Her face was a palette of crimson and cold resolve. She decided that the place was a house of sin. She would destroy it.

She climbed up the stair that would take her on the first floor. But she faintly heard gunshots emanating from above when she was five steps away so she crouched over to listen. When the sounds stopped, she quickly went behind the door and put her ear on the surface to listen. She could hear faint screams.

She decided to wait. Then it occurred to her. _Could it be Mr. Okajima?_

She opened the door ajar and peeked outside. Her eyes widened at his sight. It was definitely him. He was climbing up to the second floor. Her heart beat fast. She was getting afraid and absurdly excited.

She observed what was happening. A man in a butler's suit was bringing children away. She couldn't quite see where, but he seemed to come back and forth, gently carrying the children one by one.

She began to move. When the butler disappeared from the area, she rushed up the stairs, ignoring the continuous gunfire from outside.

…

Alejandra heard the door open and someone came in. She was blindfolded and her wrists and ankles were now getting numb being bound with a rope. She was on a chair.

"Your savior came, miss," said a voice.

"What are you planning to do with me? Why are you keeping me alive? If you're looking for the disk, I don't have it, anymore!" Alejandra yelled.

"Now you're like that. Earlier, you were begging me to let you go. Now, you're saying things I didn't even ask for. Listen, girly, and listen carefully. I don't need you for anything but as bait. There's someone you know that interests our boss and I'm the one assigned to hunt him down and capture him. Oh, by the way, I'm not really planning on keeping you alive. You will be my prize after I accomplish this. But don't worry 'cause I get bored with playthings easily. When that happens, you'll die." He stopped talking. "Oh, I almost forgot. You didn't seem to hear this. I said your savior came."

"What? Who?"

"See ya." The door closed.

"Hey, wait!" She only heard the man's laughter coming from outside the door. _Could it be Rock? Did Rock come to save me?_

Tears filled her eyes and it wetted the black cloth covering them. From the top of her lungs, she cried, "Rock, I'm here! Save me! Please, save me!"

…

"Why do you have to do that?" Joseph, the man in charge of guarding Nicole, asked when James went out of the room.

"To tease. But it's more like to give her false hope. I just love to see these white whores' despair when their hopes crumble."

"You really hate them, don't you?"

"Hah! I just want to show them who's boss. I want them to taste total defeat."

"Are you really sure you'll win? I heard this guy killed sixteen brothers alone, barehanded."

"That's not gonna happen twice." James phone rang. "Hello?"

"James? Hey, man, there's trouble!" A man on the other line said. "There are fucking soldiers out here. What's happened, man? You never said something like this to us. What's happening?"

James was surprised but kept calm. "How many are there?"

"There are four out here but they're fucking strong! I think we'll not last for long. What should we do?"

"Stay calm and go hide somewhere. Wait for my instructions." He cut the call.

"What's going on?" Joseph asked. "Who was that?"

"Shit. Some assholes are nosing in."

"What?"

"That man's probably on his way here. Try to intercept him and do damage to him as much as you can. I'll go prepare the kids."

"The kids? Hey! Boss instructed us to never touch them! Are you crazy? They're not ready, yet."

James couldn't hold his anger anymore. He grabbed Joseph's neck. "Just do what I fucking say! I'm in charge here." He pushed Joseph away and left without another word. Joseph stared at him, face pale and frightened.

…

Joseph stood up and ran for the boys' quarter. He only saw James that agitated when something serious came up. _But resorting to something like using those "brats" is just way too crazy? If they run wild, we'll be in danger, too._

Joseph arrived at the farthest room on the floor. He opened the door and went in.

The boys he arrived on were doing a session. From the look on their eyes, he could see that they were already high.

"Hey, what's up?" a black kid asked him. "You wanna try some of these? You just need one sniff and heaven is before you."

He ignored the kid. "Hey, listen up. Someone is trying to screw with us. He's on his way here."

"So?"

"So, I want all of you to go and kill him."

"You're asking all of us? You're kidding right?"

"All of you. No one among here will be a match to him one-on-one."

The black kid stood up. "'Are you fucking with us, huh? Do you wanna die?"

"If you have the energy to threaten me, you're better off obeying my orders. Remember who's providing you with supplies."

The kid was suddenly worried. "All right, all right! Jeez, man, I'm only kidding." He turned to his mates. "Hey, you hear that! Get your lazy asses up! We have work to do!" To Joseph he said, "Okay. Leave this one to us. But can you tell me why you're so worried? What kind of beast are we up against?"

"He's an assassin." With that, Joseph left the room.

…

Along the way, Rock clashed with the guards. They were killers, no doubt about it, but luckily not that good. Before the twenty-five round ammo of the carbine he had picked up was consumed, he already reached the fourth floor. And when he finally needed to use his Desert Eagles, the junkies showed up.

A rain of bullets greeted him as he was about to turn at the intersection. He quickly hid himself.

"The fucker's here! Throw the grenade!"

Rock was alarmed after hearing this. But he was too late to run and hide inside one of the rooms so he just picked a corpse to cover himself up. The grenade exploded. The shrapnel torn the corpse's torso and some hit Rock in the shoulder and leg. Then he heard running footsteps.

"I think we got him!"

"Let's check."

Rock lay down on the floor, covering his body with the corpse, and waited, playing dead.

When the group found him lying, its leader spoke. "We got him. But we better make sure." The leader of the group aimed his gun at his head and as he was about to pull the trigger, Rock's pistols suddenly shot out from beneath the dead body and fired consecutively.

Some of the group that were not hit fired at him, but since they were panicking, Rock easily rolled out from their aims, stood up, and gunned the nearest of them down. The others, who were a few meters away from him, kept on shooting. He tried his fastest to dodge but there were just too many of them shooting at him at the same time so inevitably a bullet grazed his upper arm. He ran and hid himself in the corner.

He then pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it out to the gangsters. The grenade exploded.

"Shit! Shit!"

The remaining gangsters hid themselves in the corner of the next junction.

"What is this? We're getting slaughtered, man! Damn it!" a panicking kid said.

"Shush. Relax. If you don't get hold of yourself, we will really get slaughtered. The Joseph guy wasn't joking. This guy's no amateur," a black kid with the dreadlocks said.

"But what are we gonna do? Man, let's scram. I don't wanna die, yet."

"Shut up or I'll kill you!"

Two black cylinder cans rolled on the floor from where Rock was hiding. Then, white smoke hissed out from them. In just two seconds, the whole corridor was filled with white smoke.

"Shit! He's coming!"

Rock shot out from the smoke, wielding a dagger in each hand.

"Shoot!"

Screams of guns thundered around. In the midst of the chaos, Rock cut the throats of any enemy near him. Those who were in panic didn't know who should they aim at and just squeezed at their guns. This resulted to the gangsters killing each other. It didn't take Rock that long to clear this obstacle. Like a warrior from a successful raid, Rock headed to the fifth floor with nothing but a few wounds.

Now he was on the fifth floor. The place was just a large empty room as if a transition gap between the fourth and the sixth floor. All he could see were the rows of columns and a few pots and vases on the corners of the room.

He scanned the room to look for the stairs. He spotted an elevator but he was avoiding this because if something happened it was the place that would be very difficult to escape from. He saw no stair anywhere. Only a door was in front of him.

He wasted no time and went for the door. But as he began to run towards it, it opened on its own. He backed off. _Now what?_

From the shadows, a huge Black guy revealed himself. He was tall and had a deadly countenance. His eyes stared coldly at him. When his escorts tried to enter in, he stopped them.

"Don't interfere. I'll handle this."

Rock stood, observing the big guy. He gripped his daggers. He had his guns but they didn't have enough ammo left. _ From the way he looks, he seems to want to fight me, barehanded. This guy is the type to test his strength on someone. I'm more worried about the men behind him. I have only one grenade left. _

"This is the first time that an intruder has gotten this far. You're strong. I'm pleased to meet you."

Rock frowned.

"And now, prepare to die!"

The big guy attacked using the tip of his fingers like spears. He was fast. Rock just dodged the first wave then skillfully twirled the daggers around his hands and did a spinning slash. The big guy evaded the blades. Rock put his strength to his left leg and launched with his daggers pointed at his enemy's heart and kidney. The big guy parried the right dagger to his side and attempted a spear-handed thrust at Rock's rib cage. With lightning fast reaction, Rock used his elbow. He pushed himself away.

"You're good! This is exciting!"

Rock now took off his over coat and undid two buttons of his shirt. The big guy wasn't someone ordinary. He should remove all traces of his humanity to finish this fast.

As Rock and the big guy stared off, a familiar voice boomed from the entrance of the fifth floor. It was Roberta's. "Mr. Okajima, please, let me be of service! Leave these filthy men to me!"

To be continued…


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Threat

The big guy grinned. "Hohoho! What is this? Backup? Now this is annoying. No one should interfere when I fight. Men, take care of her."

The escorts pulled their guns as they entered the large room. Roberta cocked her shotgun. One of the escorts aimed to shoot Roberta. However, when he was about to pull the trigger, a dagger hit his neck.

"Roberta, close your eyes!" Rock cried.

Tenth of a second after a metal object had clinked as it hit the floor, a blinding white light flooded the whole room.

"Ah! My eyes!"

"Shit!"

Rock ran towards Roberta. When he reached her, he saw that she was stunned. She had been a fraction of a second too late to cover her eyes. He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her down behind a column while at the same time hurling his last grenade at his blinded enemies. The sound of explosion and screams of men pierced through his eardrums.

He pushed himself up and inspected Roberta. She was not moving. It alarmed him. He supported Roberta up and made her lean against the column. "Hey, Roberta, are you okay? Speak to me! Are you hurt somewhere?"

Roberta repeatedly blinked her eyes. Upon seeing Rock's worried face before her, she felt embarrassed all of a sudden. Some kind of force made her eyes avert from his. She kept silent.

"Are you all right?" Rock asked.

"Yes. I—I'm okay."

Rock stared at her for a while. She really felt strange now. She could not stand his stare.

She stood up. "You should not worry. We should pay more attention to the task at hand."

Rock was relieved. "That's good to hear."

"Anyway, I want to ask you something. How did you know we had been brought here?"

"Nicole told me that if she would be kidnapped, this place was the only place she would be taken to."

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were in this kind of situation?"

Rock sighed. "If I told you, you would have insisted on doing things the hard way. You didn't even believe me at first when I said I wanted to help you. I don't want to risk two lives at the same time."

Roberta didn't reply.

"Look. We don't have enough time to discuss this. We should find the quickest way to rescue Nicole and get out of here." He started to walk away.

"Why are you so kind? This girl and I only give you trouble. Why are you trying to help us?"

He stopped and looked at her. "'When you are able to, do something' was what my mentor told me. I know that I can't solve all this world's problems. But, at least, before I die, I can proudly say that I haven't been useless as a human being. That, at least, I was able to protect those persons that have become my friends."

_Friends…_

"Now, come on! I don't want to waste time in here."

"Mr. Okajima…"

"Yes?"

Suddenly, she bowed before him. "D-doomo arigatou. I'm glad that I met you."

Rock was amused to see her like this. "Oh. I didn't know you speak Japanese. But, you know, you didn't have to do that. I'm the one who's thankful for this present life I have. This is way better than my life in the past. Even though this is not the ideal life an ordinary man would wish for, it's way better than being all alone."

Rock didn't know that he had missed to see something very rare, that even a black diamond would be lame in comparison. Behind him, as he began to walk, Roberta's lips curved into a smile, a smile without pretense and malice. It was a sincere smile of gratitude and relief.

…

Back at the courtyard, Hidoshi was assessing the surroundings.

"It seems that they ran away," Hidoshi said.

"That stinks," said Albert, the blonde guy Hidoshi had brought along with him. "So they're just the kind of thugs that only have scary faces as weapons, eh. This is a major disappointment."

"This is better than what we expected," said Susan, the sniper woman. "We can progress quickly without difficulty."

"Shut up, bitch! How could you accept this? Where is the thrill? The excitement? Is this really what you want? I thought that this was going to be exciting with Hidoshi going like, 'Prepare to bash some skulls.' But look, now. They just ran away on us."

"That's enough. We are not here to look for adventure, kid. I'm paying you, so stop complaining," Hidoshi interjected. "Anyway, these boys that confronted us were mere pawns, mere babies if you compare them to your experience so don't expect too much. You're here because you are mercenaries. And as long as you're being paid properly, you don't have the right to complain."

"Okay, okay. Jeez. This is a pain in the ass." Albert stood up, and upon getting his back completely straight, a bullet hit his right shoulder. He lay down on the ground.

"Albert!" Susan exclaimed.

"It's okay, it's okay. No need to panic! It's only grazed my skin."

"To think that they're just waiting for us," Hidoshi muttered.

"I take back what I said. This is becoming interesting." Albert grinned.

"You're bleeding too much," Omura said. "It is a clean hit."

"Don't worry yourself. I'm used to this."

"Let me see!" Susan demanded.

"Look…"

"Let me see, damn it!"

He looked at her. "O—okay."

Susan opened his coat and inspected his wound. "You're lucky it didn't hit any bone. Anyway, we should take care of it before it gets infected." Susan got a bullet from her leg's pocket and twisted off the lead from the cartridge. "Prepare yourself." Susan poured the gray bullet powder onto his wound. Then, she lit it with a lighter. The powder burst into a bright white flame and burned until his flesh melted to close onto the hole. In the whole process, he was just staring at the elephant-shaped bush with cold, emotionless eyes. Susan poured alcohol unto the wound before tying it over with a bandage. "All done."

He woke up from his unconscious state and thanked the pretty woman beside him.

"You know how to use the Second Level of Consciousness?" Omura asked.

"What is that? No. I just concentrated on something to block the pain. It's the same thing as ignoring it. It's no big deal for a seasoned soldier, you know. You learn many inhuman skills as you pick up experience along the way. You seem to know about it, too, though you call it with a weird name."

"There's no time for that. The real problem is how to get in that mansion," Hidoshi said.

"Let me go in, first," Omura suggested. "I know where the sniper is."

"What?" Susan asked.

"I know the exact point where the sound originated. I can't be wrong."

"Okay," Hidoshi said.

Omura ran in small fast steps away from them.

"Are you sure about this?" It was Susan.

"That's his special ability. You see, Omura's eyes are nearly blind. He told me that he sees only the silhouette of figures when he looks at them. Since he was a child, he has lived with this defect but he hasn't told anyone even his parents about it. That brought his sense of hearing onto the highest level it could attain. Now, he can hear sounds as a microscope can see microbes."

…

James stood in front of a large cage, a cage that would normally be built for fearsome beasts. However, no beast was caged inside. As he got closer to insert the key into the cage's keyhole, the acidic odor of urine and the stench of shit reached his nose and he almost puked on the spot.

He was cursing under his breath as he inserted the key into the keyhole, but as he did that, a small, solid hand shot out from the dark and grabbed his wrist. He panicked and tried to retrieve his arm but the grip was strong.

The hand was small but calloused and rough. It was strong enough to render his arm immobile.

"What the fuck are you doing? Let me go, damn it!" James demanded.

"Food…food…"

"Shit! That's it!" James got his gun out. "I'll kill you, stupid pigs!"

"Food…"

Hands shot out from the shadows, grabbing different parts of his body.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Help me! Let me go! Let go!"

Sharp teeth found his throat and tore it open.

…

When he reached the laboratory, Joseph was out of breath. He punched in the password to open the thick metal door of the lab.

"James! We got…"

He froze at what he saw. Eyes wide in disbelief, he watched as six pale, naked children devoured James on the floor. He put his hand over his mouth to suppress his urge to vomit.

One of the children noticed him. It turned its bloody face on him and grinned.

"Food…"

Joseph backed off and attempted to escape. But the child was too fast. It closed the distance between James' corpse and him with only one leap.

"Food…"

Joseph screamed.

…

While eating, the child noticed the opened door and the unfamiliar wall outside. Slowly, she left Joseph's dead body and crawled outside. She looked around. No one was around. She sniffed the air and caught a faint but delicious scent. Her mouth began to water. She crawled towards the direction where the scent was coming from, towards the room where Nicole was.

To be continued…


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Saving Nicole

The sniper on the second floor was having a hard time shooting down Omura, who was able to run in quick no-pattern steps. He couldn't get his rhythm, a factor for predicting the next location of the target inside the crosshair area of the telescope sight.

_Damn this shit! I can't follow his movements!_

"Hey, Mike, getting your confidence torn all of a sudden? Is the man that good?" Jay said.

"Shut the fuck up! If you have the energy to ask stupid questions, it's better for us if you pick up a rifle and help me with this!"

"Sure, sure." Jay stood up and went to get a rifle hanging on the wall. As he was getting back, the window where Michael was sniping at broke inward. A katana went in and impaled Michael's head. Michael's dead body hit the floor.

Jay saw as a bulky body went in with the debris of glass. He was so shocked to think. He didn't even realize that he was about to die.

Omura pulled his katana out of Michael's head. Without even thinking twice, he dashed for the petrified black American standing in the far corner of the room, holding a rifle in his hands.

Using incredible speed to slash the sword with, he killed the petrified person without him knowing it. He passed through the chopped body of the man, scattering the chunks of flesh around and bathing himself with blood in the process. Saying a small prayer, he whipped away the blood clinging on the blade of his sword with one fast motion. He then went and threw the dead sniper out the window to let his company know that he had already finished his task.

…

Rock went for the door that would bring him to the sixth floor.

"Come on, Robeta!" he called out over his shoulder.

As he was about to reach the door, it moved and was pushed forward by a strong force. Rock dodged the door. Behind the large rectangular wood, the big black guy pushed forward. Roberta reacted to this and aimed her shotgun at him. The big guy grabbed the nozzle of the shotgun as he saw it and squeezed it as if it was made of soft lead. He then threw a fast straight at her. The punch threw her to the column, the impact cracking the thin cement finishing.

Rock put out his guns, but a second too late to flee from the big guy's one hand tackle. He was thrown sprawling on the floor, his guns flying away from his grip. The big guy followed up, leaping over Rock. He grabbed Rock's neck.

"Heh! Is this all you got? You wounded me with your lame grenade. You're gonna pay for it," the big guy said.

Roberta dashed toward the big guy, jumping onto his back, and taking hold of his chin. The big guy grabbed onto her hair and hurled her towards the wall.

_He's strong…That strength is not ordinary even for a huge man like him…_Roberta tried to get up, but her knees gave in. She felt dizzy all of sudden.

"You will not progress from here. I'll kill you!" The big guy cocked his arm, preparing to crush Rock's skull. When he thought that he had gathered enough force, he launched his final blow.

There was a moment of silence as the big guy stared at his wrist with shock. His punch was stopped. Rock was grabbing his wrist and he couldn't move an inch. It felt like a vice-grip, gradually tightening.

"You think you can stop me with this!" He tried to yank away his arm from his grip but it was no use. Rock was gripping it with an unbelievable strength he would not expect from Rock's kind of body frame. "What the fuck! What is this? Let go!"

"I don't have time to play with you," Rock said.

The big guy turned on him and grew cold at what he saw. Rock's eyes transformed into that of a demon's, blood-shot and piercing, as if he was about to cry blood.

Rock crushed the big guy's wrist as if it was made of glass. The big guy screamed in pain.

"You will be no match even for my youngest brother," he said. "Now, let me make you feel what brutality really means."

Rock took hold of the big guy's head and put pressure on it. The big guy's face contorted in pain, his mouth gaping like a fish being cooked on hot charcoal. His tongue was receding into his throat. Then, his skull gave in, blood squirting from the damaged veins. Rock didn't let go until he was just holding onto the big guy's scalp. The big guy's skull fell to the bottom of the skin covering his head, looking like a crystal ball put inside a rubber mask stretched tautly by the crystal's weight.

Rock dropped the big guy on the floor and went over to Roberta.

"Are you okay, Roberta? Can you stand up?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't much of a help," she said.

"Don't worry about that. I want to know if you're all right."

"Honestly, I'm not at the moment, but I can guarantee that I didn't sustain any critical damage. If you will, Okajima-san, please don't worry about me and go quickly to Ms. Nicole."

Rock hesitated for a while. Then, he said, "Okay. I'll come back for you."

"Thank you."

Rock left her. After he was gone, she scanned the area. She found the gruesome figure of the big guy lying on the floor. Her eyes bulged and a hair of doubt suddenly crossed her mind. The man of which strength she had considered superior lay motionlessly with his head crushed on the floor.

…

One of the kids followed the scent she had caught when she got out of the laboratory. She was slow, gazing everywhere, not familiar with the scenery around her. She was walking with her feet and hands like a dog. Inch by inch, she was closing in on Nicole.

…

Ben Rudolph arrived on two young gangsters standing guard outside Nicole's room. Each had his pistol out, both wary of the surroundings.

"Hey, gentlemen, is everything okay?" Ben asked.

"Yo! Billy, thank god you're here! I mean, man, what's happening? I heard that Felix has been killed," said the one with the yellow bandana. "Are the police finally making their move?"

"I don't know about that. Where's Joseph?"

"Gone to the lab. He said he would check on James."

Ben suddenly grew nervous. "What?"

"Yeah. I heard that James was fucking crazy enough to resort to using the kids. Man, I didn't imagine him making that kind of decision so suddenly. I mean, he's always fucking cool. Is the enemy that strong?"

"Open the door! Now!"

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, what's the problem?" said the one with the silver front teeth.

"We should take the hostage out. She's in grave danger. If James was serious about that, she might get devoured."

"Are you crazy? Who's gonna fucking devour whom?"

"I don't have time for this." Ben went and tried to turn open the knob. "What the fuck? Who has the key?"

"We don't have the key. Joseph just told us to stand guard."

"Fucking useless!" Ben started to kick the door.

Silver teeth pushed Ben away. "Stop that, fucker! Who do you think you are? If the hostage got out, James would fucking kill us, understand? We're not giving her to you however you bitch about it."

"Then I have no—"

"Food…"

The three of them jerked their head toward the origin of the shaky voice. They saw it. The voice had come from the skinny girl with the bloody mouth.

"What the fuck?" the two gangsters blurted out at the same time.

"Shit!" Ben took out his gun and began shooting at the door knob. He kicked the door and it opened with a bang.

"Hey, what are you—" Silver teeth began saying.

"Andrew! Look out!"

The skinny girl leaped onto silver teeth, and then, using her sharp teeth, ripped open his neck.

The other gangster started to shoot at the girl, but, with her unbelievable agility, she easily got close to the gangster. She climbed on his torso. Using her thumbs, she scooped out his eyes. She jumped down and put the eyes in her tiny mouth, chewing and swallowing them in front of their owner, who was screaming in pain.

"You bitch! You bitch! I'll gonna fucking kill you!"

The girl went over the gangster. She bit his lower lip and ripped it off from his face, making him cry even more.

…

After she got tired of the gangster, she got herself in the room, sniffing the air. The delicious smell was coming off the chair. She went to the chair and sniffed around it like a dog sniffing a tire to pee on. Then she picked up the severed ropes on the floor, sniffing it, too. She looked up and sniffed the air once more. She detected the place where the same smell was strong. It was the wall beside the bookshelf. With an excited smile on her face, she went to it.

Ben came out from the shadows, launching himself onto the girl. "NOW RUN!"

Nicole got out from the secret chamber and dashed for the door, not making even a single glance back. She didn't understand any of it. A member of the Brotherhood had came to free her, told her about a secret door, ordered her to go in and to wait for his signal before she got out.

She got out of the room, and then hesitating for a moment, ran towards the direction to her right.

…

Ben put his gun on the struggling girl's head. As he was about to pull the trigger, a body pushed him away. Another skinny child was now beside the girl. Now it was a boy. With eyes as that of a wild beast's, it stared at him. He had a premonition, and even though it rarely came, it had been always right. His insides were telling him he was about to be killed.

To be continued…


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Who Could Bring Justice

Nicole heard the scream coming from the room where she had been. She couldn't help but close her eyes upon hearing it. The hellish sound echoed in the hallway and in her head. It was a scream of a man who didn't want to die but had no choice.

_I must get away from here._

She kept on running until she reached another junction. She chose the hallway to her right again and ran. There was nothing on her mind but to get away from the room she had been locked in as fast as possible. So she ran with her bare feet, her skirt rustling with every step she made.

When she was near the elevator and started to be relieved about it, something tugged at the hem of her skirt. She fell forward.

When she checked on it, she saw the ghoulish girl looking back at her. Her eyes widened and color disappeared from her face.

She screamed while kicking at the small girl. Despite being hit, the girl remained unmoved.

"Get away from me! Get away!"

"Food…"

The girl launched herself onto her. With adrenaline burst, she pushed the girl away, stood up, and ran for her life. At the far end, there was the elevator. She ran for it with all her strength.

However, the little girl caught up. She felt pain on her calf. The girl had bitten her.

"Get away! Get away!" She hit the small cannibal. "Get away from me!"

She struggled, pushing away the small girl's face. Miraculously, she won. She got up and went to the elevator, pushing the open button repeatedly.

"Come on, come on! Shit! Shit!"

She could see the small girl standing up, walking like a zombie towards her. She got the urge to run, but she knew that if she did that the girl would catch her.

"Why the fuck are you not coming down, you fucking metal box! Hurry up and save me here!" She began to sob. Her knees gave in and she slumped on the floor. "Hurry up! Rock, you asshole! Where are you?" Tears were now gushing out from her eyes.

Ding! The elevator opened and four men in suit got out. The man in front was startled to see her.

"What the fuck? Why is the hostage here?" he said. Then, the little girl caught his attention. "Huh? It's…"

"It's a 'kid!' Shoot! Shoot!" another said. This one raised his gun, which he had been carrying by his side all this time, and shot at the little girl.

All of them got out to the hallway, positioning themselves in front of the little girl. Then they started shooting.

Despite being hit on the shoulders and arms, the little girl pushed forward towards them. The four men began to panic. There focus dwindled.

The girl caught one of them in the neck. She pressed with her jaw using the remaining strength she had. She growled like an angry dog as she dug deeper with her teeth into the man's neck, the sound being muffled by blood oozing out from the wound.

Out of panic, the three remaining thugs shot at both their comrade and the girl, neglecting everything but the successful slaying of the little cannibal. They emptied their guns of ammunition. Until they heard nothing but clicks of the guns' hammer, they never stopped. And when they did, there was fear in there eyes.

"What the fuck just happened?"

"Shit! Charlie?" this guy knelt beside their dead comrade and felt for a pulse on his neck. "He's dead."

"What is that girl? She was like a mad dog. She didn't even care how much she was hit."

"It's one of the 'kids' boss has been working on. They're genetically modified humans. Shit, if this one is here, the others must be out somewhere. We better be careful."

"What did you say?"

"They have been modified to kill. They will not hesitate to kill anyone they see."

"Shit!"

"What are we gonna do with her?" This guy gestured towards the unconscious Nicole beside the elevator.

"She lost consciousness. It looks like she somehow managed to escape. From the look of things, we can't do anything but to bring her with us. The intruder is still at large. We can't afford to lose her or the boss will surely kill us."

"Hey, Brad, you carry her," he said to the guy who had just been listening to the conversation.

"Leave it to me."

…

Rock reached the sixth floor and was grateful that he didn't meet any enemy. He got to the seventh floor without any obstacles.

As he walked along the hallway, Rock noticed the two dead bodies lying by the elevator. He got worried. He went to inspect the bodies.

A body of a young, naked girl lay above the body of a tall man in suit.

_What is this? Why are there dead people in here? Who killed them?_ He suddenly noticed something about the child. He looked closer. _This body's built is somewhat strange. _He reached to touch the back of the child. _There is no fat…no, no, this is actually… this body was kind of dehydrated to the point where human could barely live. The muscles are so condensed that they are hard as rock. Who could have done this to them? And why is she…_Something unexpected occurred to him—his childhood. _This child has been experimented on._ His jaws stiffened with rage.He stood up.

_There are traces of blood left. If I followed this, maybe…_

With a grim face, he started to move. As he was about to reach the junction, a figure came out from the corner. It was a male child, as skinny as the dead girl, with cold, deadly eyes.

Rock froze as he looked into those eyes. Some memory that had been buried deep in his consciousness was revived. He saw his young self in the child, the ferocious beast that he had been before.

_This can't be…Who did this to you?_

"Food…"

Rock stared at the child.

The child attacked.

The time seemed to slow. He couldn't move for a while. But, when the child was only an inch from him, his countenance changed.

"Enough!" he barked.

The child seemed to understand that. It closed its open mouth and hit Rock's chest with its head. It fell on all fours and scuttled away. Rock looked at it with his frightful eyes. When their eyes met, it covered its head with its hands and whimpered, trembling in fear.

He approached the child. "Why do you tremble? I see. You're not like us at all. When we were still small, we never got tired chasing after death. But you, you are only chasing after survival."

All he heard as a reply was a whimper.

…

"I think it's better if we rest for a while," Dutch suggested as he closed the door of the room they had just entered. They were on the eighteenth floor now. "I didn't expect that they could pressure us this much. Their skills are on par with Visotoniki."

"We can expect that much from America," Balalaika said.

"Shit!" Revy hissed.

Balalaika clicked on her transmitter. "Benny, what's the situation?"

"Elements conquered floor number eight, twelve, thirteen, and twenty nine. I don't know their exact number but those floors have been intruded. The Visotoniki is being pressed below. They cannot move up."

"Can you provide us with a route of escape?"

"I've been working on it. It's difficult. Looks like someone is blocking the system channels. I don't know the origin of the firewall. I'm doing my best to track it down. Give me a few minutes."

"I'm counting on you." She let go of the button and clicked on it again. "Boris, your situation."

"I'm still at the building across. I can't go out. Someone is waiting for me at the rooftop."

"What can you observe?"

"The roads have been deserted, Kapitan. I saw commotion at the opposite ends a kilometer away from here. The police must be blocking vehicles from entering. Occupants of adjacent buildings seem to not notice what's been going on at the moment."

Inside one of the rooms of the next building to the east, a middle-aged man looked out from his window. He frowned when he saw that the building next to theirs had no light on.

"Honey, come here," he called out.

"Yes?" A middle aged blond woman moved to his side. "What's the matter?"

"Why do you think the lights of that building have been shut off?"

"Oh, that? I heard that it's still on renovation. Come on. Let's sleep. Leave it alone." She tugged at her husband's sleeve.

The man continued on staring at the building.

"Honey, come on," his wife said.

"It's strange. I was at that building earlier. There were guests checking in and checking out."

"What's strange about that? It might only be a simple power failure."

"No. My instinct is telling me otherwise."

"You police buff! What are you talking about? Come on. Forget about your police instinct. Turn your animal instinct on, instead, and make love with me."

He sighed and turned on her with smiling eyes. "Yeah, maybe it's better." He leaned to kiss her. As their lips was about to touch, he caught a flash of light from one of the windows. He jerked his head towards it. His eyes widened when he saw flashes coming from the opposite side, too. "It's not brown out, honey. I think something is happening down there."

"What?" The wife took a glimpse. "Don't be ridiculous. Maybe they're just working on metals."

"It's impossible. They will not turn off the lights if they're planning on welding. We must call the cops."

"Honey…"

"Come on!" He went to the phone and dialed 911.

…

The three men who caught Nicole went inside an elevator. Trevor, the one leading the group, pushed the "tenth-floor" button. As the elevator registered motion, Brad, who was carrying Nicole on his shoulder, and Trevor exchanged meaningful glances. When the elevator reached the tenth floor, Brad went out first followed by Trevor. Then, when Harry, the third guy, was about to get out, Trevor whipped out his gun and shot him in the head. Harry hit the back wall and slid down on his own blood to the floor. The elevator closed.

"It's fortunate that this floor is almost abandoned," Brad said.

"Just act normal as before. We don't want to blow our cover, yet."

…

Hidoshi received a call from the special cellular phone he had. He and Albert were now inside the room where Ben Rudolph had kept the abused children in. Susan was at a window in the main hall, acting as the sentry gun to guard against enemy reinforcements who would come from the outside.

"Hidoshi here," he said.

"It's Trevor. We got the hostage with us. We're going to the office."

"That's good news."

"Hey, I just want to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"What the fuck are you thinking making the attack now? You better have a good explanation for this or I will skin you alive, you shit head!"

There was silence for a while as Hidoshi considered what to say.

"Hey, fuck head, come on!"

"It's Cold Knife."

"…"

"I know that it's not the appointed time, yet, but it can't be helped. He's here for the hostage. If we let it like that, he would destroy irreplaceable evidence. I'm sorry to put you in trouble."

"Cold Knife? You mean the real thing?"

"Yes."

"Shit! Why didn't you tell us anything about this?"

"It was dangerous. More importantly, when you reach the office, call in reinforcements. There should be something to do it from there."

"It's the boss' office. It's where we make contact to the outside world."

"Good. We need to take these children out of here fast. They're in a very bad shape."

"I understand. One piece of advice, though. The boss and his men should be on their way by now. You got little Sue out there, right?"

"She's here."

"That big gate is the only way I know to go inside. They should be coming in by cars. Tell her that there is an anti-tank rifle in the secret compartment beside the fireplace. She could use that."

"I see. Thanks."

The line was cut. Hidoshi went to tell Susan about the anti-tank rifle.

To be continued…


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Alesha

Rock followed the tracks of blood on the floor that led toward an open room. Two gruesome dead bodies lay by the door. Ignoring them, Rock peered inside the room. He smelled the stench of blood. Pushing the door in, he took a step inside. He groped for the switch. He flicked it on and found Ben's dead body at the wall. Ben's head was hanging from his neck, mouth gaping and dripping with blood, his pale palms facing the ceiling.

"Shit," Rock said.

Rock looked around. He saw bloody hand and foot prints on the wall and on the floor. He knew who had killed his friend. Mad at the thought that the first meeting they had in years would be the day Ben died, he punched the wall and ground his teeth.

"I'm sorry," he said and prayed.

When he decided to go on with his search, he heard the faint sound of static from where Ben was. It made him curious. He frisked Ben and found a lighter-sized radio from inside his coat.

"Bravo one, come in, Bravo one."

Rock pressed in to answer. "Go."

"Bravo? Ben, are you there?"

Rock didn't answer this time.

"Okay. If you're there, listen. Objective Three is already done. I repeat: O-Three is accomplished. She's with us. We're on Location Theta, right now, in progress with O-Two. Meet us at Location Gamma. Hidoshi is waiting with O-One, over."

"Ben is dead. This is Cold Knife. Where is Location Theta?"

Inside the office of the Claire Branch boss, Trevor and Brad looked at each other.

"It's Cold Knife," Brad said.

"What?" Trevor said.

"Should we tell him where we are?"

"Are you still there?" Rock asked.

"What should we say?" Brad said.

"Give me the radio." Trevor inhaled and exhaled. "Cold Knife?"

"Yes."

"The hostage is fine. Let's meet at the ground floor."

"Where is Location Theta?" Static. "Hello? Hello?" He glared at the radio.

"How's the transfer?" Trevor asked.

"This computer is state-of-the-art, but there's so much information that the transfer is progressing slowly. We need, I think, another fifteen minutes or more. Why did you decide against telling him where we are?"

"He doesn't know us. If we meet right now, there's a seventy percent probability that he might kill us."

…

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Rock hurled the small radio to the wall where it broke into shards. He already knew that they were allies, but the fact that he couldn't know where Nicole was infuriated him. It gave him relief that she was safe, but he wanted to see that for himself.

He hurried out the room.

…

The little child Rock had met a while ago ran like a frightened dog from him. It went to the junction to his left. He noticed that some dried blood prints were on the floor, too, coming from the direction of the junction. After a few moments of consideration, he decided to follow the child to know where the blood had originated.

He found the laboratory. Outside laid a decapitated corpse. Its arms had been torn from its shoulders and its intestines were hanging out from its belly.

He went inside and found another corpse. This one had had the skin of its head devoured. The chest had been emptied of its content and chunks of flesh were missing on its arms and legs.

The corpse lay near an open cage that smelled of feces and urine. This gave him the idea of how the children were treated in the laboratory. There was a control panel few paces from the cage. Six swivel chairs, which looked as if they had been left in a hurry, were spread around the control panel.

Rock went to the control panel and inspected the consoles. As he did so, he noticed that a computer monitor was still running. On the screen, a cursor was blinking at the end of a command line.

"Do you want to lock the MC-1?" the line said.

Rock input an "N."

"Confirm."

Rock pressed "ENTER."

"The MC-1 remains accessible. Concealing glass is activated. Do you want to deactivate the concealing glass?"

Rock input a "Y."

"Confirm."

Rock pressed "ENTER."

"Concealing glass is deactivated."

There was a loud hissing sound. Then, the black glass in front of the control panel began to part in four directions. The process took fifteen seconds until everything behind the concealing glass was revealed.

Rock was shocked at what the concealing glass revealed to him. Ten ranks of large, illuminated glass tubes appeared before him. There was a human being inside each tube.

"What is this?" he muttered.

"This is another hell, Kukri, a worse hell than where you'd been before."

Rock saw an old man emerge from the darkness behind one of the glass tubes in the far left.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The old man hobbled toward him. "I'm the genetic consultant of this laboratory."

"How did you know my name?"

"I was a good friend of the late Dr. Kutzmann. We met in a refugee camp in Iraq during the Cold War. From then on, we became the best of friends. I know everything about him." The old man arrived at a chair and sat on it. He faced Rock. "I'm Dr. Donovan."

…

"We have no other choice. Boris, commence Plan B," Balalaika said on the radio.

"Affirmative," Boris replied. Boris went back to his room to prepare the explosives.

One of the attendants of the hotel where Boris was went out to have a smoke. He frowned at the flickers of light coming from the dark building adjacent theirs.

"Isn't it weird?" he asked the security guard.

"Yeah. They've been at it for more than thirty-minutes, now."

"I'm asking if it is weird when you weld without light."

The security guard looked at him.

…

"So?" Bert's wife asked.

"It's okay. The police are coming."

"So, what now?"

"We wait and…the TV!" Bert got up and went to turn the TV on. He sat on the big chair and eagerly waited for the news.

"Honey, let's sleep already. You don't need to worry too much. Let the police, the _true_ police, do their thing."

Bert looked at his wife with an annoyed expression. "If you want to sleep, go! I want to know what is really happening here."

Linda sighed. "Okay. Then, let me make us some coffee."

Bert's eyes came back to the TV screen.

…

Inspector Jefferson Coleman, the head of the Special Assault Team of the New York Police Department, stood in front of Robert Monroe. The middle-aged official stared at Monroe, angrily.

"I don't know what's so special about them," Coleman said. "Why it had to be this way?"

"Listen. You don't have the privilege to question me right now. You know what, it was your fault you have this big problem." Monroe stood up and circled around Coleman. "There are two choices a man could choose from in life. One is self, the other is…not self. As the bible says, you cannot serve two masters. You hold one of the most important jobs in New York City. You are admired by so many people. You are coveted by your colleagues. You are a precious diamond to a lot of women. However, to do this job, effectively, you have to sacrifice your desires. You cannot have other means to have happiness but your job. You cannot have other things in mind but your job. And that was your mistake. You made a family for yourself. And your enemy, like the King of Deception, will not hesitate to use that weakness against you, however small it is."

"How's my family?"

"They are _still_ as how you left them." An alarm went-off from Monroe's laptop. "Oh, my enemy is attacking." Monroe went to check it. "Remember, _sir, _if you fail to kill the head of the Russians, I will just press a button and then…_kaboom_! No more Coleman daughter, no more Coleman son, no more Coleman wife. Failure means death."

"Is there any other way? Other than what you are asking me?"

Monroe stared at Coleman for a while. Then, he said, "There is. But why are you asking for it?"

"My men. The lives of my men are important to me, and they don't have anything to do with this. By the way they are resisting us, I conclude that I will lose many of my men before I can accomplish what you're asking me. Please, if there's another way, tell me."

"Are you sure?"

"It's a relief to have an alternative if something goes wrong."

"Okay. Choose wisely, then. If she manages to pull off a draw against you, give her this." Monroe brought out a metal box with red, gleaming covering. "Then, bring her inside a viewing room—every floor has one—and let me talk to her. Afterwards, make sure that they escape from here without any problem. I know that right now, other divisions of your department and the media have already received information about what's happening. It's only a matter of time until the Armed Forces meddle in." He sat on the chair. "So, good luck. I have other pressing matters to take care of."

"A draw, you say?"

"You can't surrender to her, Inspector. Rules of war do not apply here. All you can do is to cross blade with her and then negotiate."

…

"What are you to Dr. Kutzmann? Tell me," Rock asked.

Dr. Donovan put out his pipe and lit it. "Dr. Kutzmann and I believed that someday we could create an army that would bring peace in this world. He chose the more conventional way. I chose the modern way. Then, we made a bet. Whoever creates the most effective army wins. That was our condition. He proposed the Kutzmann Theory to the United Armed Forces of Germany and it was accepted. The next thing I knew, he had the Kutzmann Laboratory. Meanwhile, I failed to have my proposal accepted. They said that it was impossible to create perfect beings with genetics and cloning. So, I grabbed the blade and had an illegal organization finance my research. I succeeded in creating ferocious beasts in the form of human beings. They are effective killers as you can see." He looked at the dead body by the cage. "But, that was all they have—ferocity. Then, I heard the news that an infamous organization in the Middle East was destroyed by a single man, and I knew I already lost to him. I was depressed for a long time, until I heard about the closure of the Kutzmann Laboratory. I was surprised and I wanted to know directly from his mouth what happened. However, before I could do that, he had already committed suicide.

"His death pushed me to work harder to accomplish my dream. I dedicated every time I had to create my perfect soldier. Then, after four years of experimentations, I succeeded. And just when I was about to present her to the world, you came. Today. It's like that his ghost came back to haunt me, telling me to stop and everything I've done so far was a mistake.

"Kukri, you know what, today, I realized one thing—that he's right." Dr. Donovan brought out a remote control from his pocket. "I've planted bombs inside this laboratory. One press and everything here will vanish. Kukri, I just have something I need to ask of you." He paused, and then called out, "Alesha."

A beautiful, nude girl showed herself from one of the glass tubes. Reluctantly, she approached them. She kept her eyes on Rock all the time.

"Please, take care of her," Dr. Donovan said.

Rock was attracted to her. It was the first time that he felt attracted to someone's appearance before. It could be her snow white hair or her gray eyes or…

"Take care of her?" Rock asked.

"What are you looking at? Is this your first time seeing a nude girl?" Alesha asked.

"What? Aren't you supposed to—"

"What? Act like those dumb children there? Excuse me."

"What is this?"

"I'm sorry, Kukri," Dr. Donovan said. "She was trained that way."

"What's with the tone? It's as if you're regretting that I'm the result of your research."

"Kukri, would you please take care of her?"

"Hey, don't ignore me!"

Rock stared at the girl.

Dr. Donovan smirked. "I see that you already like her."

"W-why don't you just take care of her yourself? You can run away from here and start a new life somewhere," Rock said.

"That will only be temporary. As long as I'm alive, there will be people who will want my expertise. This brotherhood, for example, won't just let me go. I already know too much. Kukri, I know that you are only concerned about me, but this is what I want. Besides, I'm already eighty-two years old. I'm already ripe for Death's harvest. I'm tired, Kukri. Please let me rest." Dr. Donovan stood up and started to hobble towards the tubes.

Rock moved to get him, but Alesha held his arm.

"It would be better if you respected his wishes," Alesha said. "You should try to understand him. He's been through a lot, already. Please."

Dr. Donovan stopped. "Oh, before I forget." He started to take off his coat. "Wear this before you get a cold."

Alesha obeyed.

"Take care." To Rock, he said, "I'll give you ten minutes. No more." He went to the tubes.

"Come on," Alesha said, pulling Rock's arm.

"Doctor, I hope you're not making a big mistake," Rock said. "There's still a better alternative than dying."

"This is the best alternative," Dr. Donovan said. He typed in a code on a wall number pad, and the concealing glass began to close. "If you're that concerned about me, take good care of Alesha."

…

"I'm all set," Boris said.

"Okay," Balalaika said.

Under the moonless sky that was otherwise peaceful, people were gathering around the blocked area. Four TV crews pushed their way to ask questions to the cops officiating the barricade. The cops kept saying that it was an official operation of the NYPD and giving information at the moment would jeopardize the entire operation. The reporters still insisted on knowing what was really happening, but the cops, under Inspector Coleman's orders wouldn't budge. Then a sudden event changed things.

"Start," Balalaika ordered.

Four rooms on the eleventh floor of the building Boris was stationed exploded.

To be continued…


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23: When the Tables Are Turned

"This is too much coincidence. I can't believe fate could be this thorough," Rock said. He was running alongside Alesha.

"It's no coincidence," Alesha said. "Dr. Donovan found you five months ago, and that was when everything started."

"What?"

"I'll tell you everything once we get out of here."

When they turned for the elevator, Roberta came in from the stairs and saw them. She misunderstood the situation.

Roberta dashed towards Alesha. Sensing the danger, Alesha switched into fighting stance. Roberta reached her and they clashed. Alesha used Chinese Tai Chi wherein she returned Roberta's attacks with swirling motion of feet and hands. She was very skilled that Roberta grew frustrated each time her attacks were reflected.

Rock couldn't believe his eyes. Before him, there was a young girl who could execute Tai Chi with so much mastery that even an assassin like Roberta was losing confidence fighting against.

Roberta ground her teeth. She changed her stance. Now she stood sideways with both fist positioned low at her waist.

"Jugojin Ryuken," Rock muttered. _A Hakkyokuken punch designed to kill an enemy with one blow. _He realized that the fight was becoming serious. He needed to stop it.

Alesha's stance changed as well. She lowered her arms down as if she was waiting for an embrace. It was an advanced Aikido stance created to kill an attacking enemy.

Roberta made her move. However, before she could land her fist on Alesha's heart, Rock grabbed her wrist.

"Stop. She's not an enemy," Rock said.

"What?" Roberta said.

"Thank him, your life was spared," Alesha said. "I could've killed you if you entered my range."

"Who is this?" Roberta asked, ignoring Alesha.

"Long story," Rock said. "The best for now is we get out of here."

"But you haven't got Nicole, yet."

"Don't worry. The colleagues of my friend got her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Have you seen Nicole with them?"

"No. I only got the information when they raised Ben up on the radio."

"There's no assurance that they have her. What if she's still inside one of these rooms here?"

"Don't worry. They were telling the truth," Alesha said. "I saw them on the surveillance camera. Now, come on."

"What is happening?" Roberta asked Rock.

"We have less than ten minutes to leave this floor before it blows up," Rock said.

Alesha led the way.

"Let's go, Roberta." Rock pulled Roberta by the hand.

Alesha saw this gesture, but she ignored it at first, until it got into her. She stopped.

Rock stopped as well. "What?" Rock let go of Roberta's hand.

"What you're doing has been giving me goose bumps, do you know that?"

"What are you talking about?"

Alesha turned around. "Would you please let her go?" She looked at his hand and saw that he wasn't holding anything. She blushed. "I-I mean…nothing. I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry. I thought…Nevermind, come on."

They went on.

"Hey, Alesha," Rock said.

Alesha's heart skipped a beat. "W-what?"

"Did you see where were they going to?"

"The guys you were talking about? I saw them going to the boss's office."

"Where is it?"

"On the top floor."

"When was that?"

"Maybe twenty minutes ago."

"You two go ahead. I'll check them out."

Before Rock could go, Alesha held his arm. "I saw them go out before the doctor called me to meet you. Don't worry about your friend. I think those men are professionals."

They reached the elevator. Alesha pushed the down button.

…

They went inside the elevator.

"Did you already know that this would happen?" Rock asked Alesha.

"Yes, but not this sudden. The doctor thought that this would happen much later. You see, the doctor's a clever guy. He won't make a move unless he has already predicted all possible consequences. He has predicted that Nicole would eventually find you if—"

"Wait! You mean Nicole was included in his calculations?"

"Of course. This would never have happened if not for her. I'm sure you already knew how she escaped from here."

"She told me that she tricked the branch boss."

"She didn't mention us?"

"If she did, I wouldn't be so surprised by this strange turn of events."

Alesha smirked. "That girl is really something."

"What really happened?"

"I'll tell you…" Alesha glanced at Roberta, "…in private."

The elevator opened.

…

Albert was alarmed when he saw Rock, Alesha, and Roberta exit the elevator.

"Put your hands up!" Albert ordered. He aimed his gun at them.

"I'm Hidoshi's friend," Rock said.

Hearing the commotion, Hidoshi went out of the room where he was keeping the children.

"Put your gun down," Hidoshi said. "Mr. Lane, I'm glad you're okay."

"Likewise," Rock said. "You can call me Rock from now on. By the way, this is Alesha and Roberta."

"Nice to meet you," Hidoshi replied.

"Where is Nicole? Is she here?"

"Not yet."

"What?"

"Don't worry. She's in good hands."

Rock approached Hidoshi. "A radio! Give me a radio!"

"There's no need to panic, R—"

"The upper floors are gonna blow up in less than five minutes! Tell them to move and bring their asses down here, now!"

Hidoshi blanched. "What?"

Rock looked at his watch. "There's only three minutes left."

Hidoshi brought his radio out. "This is Hidoshi. Omura, Trevor, you need to get down here, now! The upper floors will blow up. You have two minutes! I repeat. You have two minutes!"

…

Omura fought with his katana on the fourth floor. Using a dead body as shield, he pursued his enemies. Along the way, he had met with the remaining _kids_, who found death in his hands. As he slashed across the torso of one thug, he heard his radio, which he had tied on his arm, being raised up by Hidoshi. He stopped to listen. After the message had been delivered, he took off to look for an elevator.

…

The laboratory looked bleak without his men. Dr. Donovan sat on the floor as he waited for the countdown to finish. All he had with him were a photo frame of Dr. Kutzmann and him and a bottle of vodka. He stared at the photo of their young, smiling faces.

"I didn't notice that I was already eighty-two. Time really flies fast when you're busy at something. Anyway, as you always said, everything worked out as planned." He drank from the bottle. "To tell you the truth, I don't want to die, yet, but I don't want to continue living in this world."

The countdown went on as programmed. 00:25…24…23…22…

"I hope that our legacies will finally bring our ideals into life."

…00:08…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…0.

…

Everybody was frozen when they heard the explosion and felt the tremors on the ground. Particles from the ceiling fell down on them.

Rock looked at the elevators. He grew anxious to find that not one was opening.

"Is everybody all right?" Hidoshi asked.

"They didn't make it," Rock muttered.

An elevator opened. Omura exited. He shook off the dust on his head.

"Shit," Rock said.

There was silence for a while. Nobody tried to speak until they heard thuds from another elevator.

Rock ran for that elevator. Omura and Hidoshi followed him.

"Help us out. We're stuck," Trevor said.

"Trevor?" Hidoshi asked.

"Yeah, it's me."

Omura made a little gap on the elevator doors with his sword. Rock pushed the doors apart. When the gap was wide enough, they saw how the elevator was stuck halfway down.

"Here," Brad said, as he turned over Nicole to Rock.

Rock brought her down. "Nicole? Nicole?"

Nicole stirred and opened her eyes. "Rock?"

"Yeah."

Nicole's eyes widened. "Rock!" She embraced him.

Rock held her for a while, and then he helped her stand up.

"You're safe now," Rock said.

…

Revy was getting bored. She kept pacing the floor as she consumed her fourth cigarette. Dutch and Balalaika seemed to be waiting for something.

"Hey, Anego, why don't we just clash with them head-on? There's no way a bunch of inexperienced SWAT could win against the Two Hands, the Hawkeye, and a 'Nam vet, isn't there?" she said.

"You're experienced on the streets, I know that, but you won't win a one-on-one match against one of them alone," Balalaika said.

"Don't underestimate me, Anego. You don't know my full capabilities."

Balalaika glared at her. "This is not a fucking game, Revy. We don't win by just killing every one of them. Don't forget that this is New York. This is not our territory. We are the ones being played here.

"I accepted this meeting to know Monroe's goal. Monroe is not an ordinary Mafioso. Even now, I can't believe that I was invited to see him. This is bound to happen. He's testing us. He wants to know how we do things on our turf.

"If we go outside and fight head-on, what do think is gonna happen?"

Revy was silent.

"I think you already know the answer. Yes. He will never show himself to us and we will end up dead here in New York City.

"There's a reason why Monroe is using the police to hunt us down. Police are trained, disciplined, and organized. Other than the military, they are the most dangerous assault force in the world. He wants to know how we will fare against them."

"That's why I'm telling you—"

"Second point, he wants to know how we will escape from here alive. Suppose we destroyed the police team in this building, could we get out of here without any problem? What do you think?"

"I don't know. We'll worry about that after we have defeated them."

"That's the worst answer, Revy. Listen so that you will learn something. Monroe controls the police. He wants to test us. That means he doesn't really expect us to get rid of the police the bloody way. He wants a deadlock."

"A deadlock?"

"Yes. He wants to see how we can force the police to negotiate with us."

"I can't understand what you're saying."

"He wants to see how resourceful we are in dealing with a situation like this, the worst situation a criminal organization could have. He's curious if we can accomplish the goal he set for us. That is to survive and escape our pursuers, and the eyes of New York City."

Balalaika stood up and went to the window. She said something on the radio.

Revy tailed her with her eyes. "I still don't understand. What is she talking about? What does she mean a deadlock? What if those jerks have only one thing in mind and that's to annihilate us?"

"She already anticipated that. That's what Plan B is all about," Dutch said. "The weakness of law enforcers is innocent civilians."

With that, Revy heard the explosion in the building across the street.

…

Police Officer Raymond McCullough ran to Inspector Coleman to report what he saw.

"Sir, there's a big explosion in the building across the street. I think eleventh or tenth floor."

"What? Is that building occupied?"

"According to our intelligence, it is presently under renovations, but there are a few guests in there."

"Call headquarters and send in troops there, complete with fire trucks and ambulance."

"Roger, sir." McCullough raised the headquarters on the radio. "HQ, come in!"

Another explosion. Both McCullough and Coleman ducked on instinct.

"Shit! We need to get to the leader of the Russians fast!" Coleman said. "Ray, tell the men on the borders to never let the media know anything!"

"Affirmative, sir."

As if Coleman and Balalaika's minds were in sync, Balalaika said, "Now all we need to do is to locate the head of this police team."

…

Inside the general manager's office, Robert Monroe stared wide eyed at the burning rooms on the eleventh floor of the building across the street.

"Very impressive. That's the best move, Balalaika. What a pity. I guess you too don't want many of your men to perish in this little skirmish. And to think I was going to enjoy longer."

Monroe went back to his laptop. He typed a code and all lines of the building's computer network became accessible.

…

Benny was becoming frustrated with the security of the building's computer system. He was sure there was someone behind it. The security was flexible. If it was preprogrammed, he could have already hacked into it. He had already tried everything he knew, everything he had on his geek's brain, but he always failed.

Then, as if a magician's wand passed across his laptop, he saw a green message on his screen. "Access Granted."

"What the fuck is going on?"

He stared mouth gaping at his screen. Just a while ago, he was here, inputting figures two hundred and twenty characters a minute without success, getting frustrated and all sweaty because he was not helping anyone on the team, and just like that, he would see the words he was badly hoping to see? What the fuck was going on?

It was not the time to think of that. He needed to be of assistance to Balalaika right away. He focused on switching on the generator. It just few clicks, the lights turned on. The monitors showed pictures once again. He smiled. The tables had turned. At the moment, he was the most important piece on the board. He would bring victory to Balalaika.

_To be continued…_


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Enemy or Ally?

Revy loaded her guns. Even though she was an idiot and couldn't think like Dutch or her Anego, she knew what was going to happen next. The flame on Balalaika's eyes said it. She knew it was already their victory. Only a few maneuvers were needed to finish everything.

"Now it's your turn, Two Hands," Balalaika said.

She grinned ear to ear. "That's what I've been waiting to hear from you."

As she was about to walk out the door, the lights came on.

Balalaika was grinning. "It's our win. Dutch, Revy, put on your earpieces."

Revy led the way. She pointed her guns at both ends of the hallway and cautiously inched towards the direction they had come from. Dutch and Balalaika were on her tail.

Meanwhile, Inspector Coleman ordered his troops to withdraw. Second by second, the police moved back while the Visotoniki moved forward. Benny did everything to map the enemies' position inside the building, and he saw how his allies conquered floor after floor. At first, Inspector Coleman didn't realize that his enemy had control over the monitors, until a policeman reported a clash on the sixteenth floor where two of his men died. This made him think. He could use the cameras to convey a message to Balalaika.

Inspector Coleman's troops set their position on the twenty-fifth floor. It was the place where they would wait for them. He was sure that Balalaika had chosen to negotiate because if not, why would she take hostages?

The twenty-fifth floor had a wide lounge like all other floors. It was a viewing room dedicated to convey messages directly from the general manager's office. There was a large, flat-screen television set up on the wall. He decided that he would end everything there: this foolish skirmish and his career. This had been a nightmare for both him and his family, and he would never let something like this to happen to them, again.

However, he became too relaxed to anticipate another turn of event. He never expected that Monroe would give another problem both he and Balalaika must face.

On the roof deck where a helicopter had been preparing to fly, Robert Monroe watched the street below. Under the black smoke created by the fire, mobiles, fire trucks, and ambulances were amassing in front of the building across. At the far ends of the road, he could make out lights and people making noise. The situation had really gone big, but he was happy for it.

He flipped his cell phone open. "Rey, kill everyone in the building," he said. After he heard an affirmation, he boarded on the helicopter. The helicopter flew after a few seconds.

…

Revy was surprised when the doors of the rooms ahead flew open and men with guns went out. On instinct, she fired at them. She killed one man. The others quickly took cover. She heard that Dutch and Balalaika were firing rounds behind her as well. She didn't know what was happening, but she was sure of one thing—that these men were enemies as well.

The door to her right cricked. Before it could open, Revy shot it. She heard grunts inside. She kicked the door and barged in. She found a man on the floor and another kneeling on the ground. She shot the kneeling man dead. With her other gun, she shot down three others who were frozen in astonishment.

"Anego, Dutch, inside!" she called out.

They hid behind the room's partition walls.

Footsteps echoed outside, and then they heard that the door was being showered with bullets. A drop of sweat rolled down Revy's face.

"Benny, what's happening?" she heard Balalaika said. "What? Yes, the armed men…Yes…Where's my Visotoniki? Good. Okay…Find a way to contact the police inside the building. They must not be harmed in anyway. They are our only chance for survival."

Revy gulped. The situation seemed out of hand in a way. It looked as if Balalaika had missed this one in her calculations.

…

Inspector Coleman, with his men, exchanged fire against Monroe's men. He had already ordered his men to scatter and meet with his just appointed allies—the Russians—and protect their head at any cost. He went in front of a camera.

"I know that someone is in control of the monitors. Whoever you are, sir/ma'am, we are on the twenty-fifth floor and we will secure this area. I already sent in some of my troops to assist you. It seems that you are ready for negotiations as well. I accept as long as you don't do any hostile acts against my men. I want to end this peacefully as much as possible. Please cooperate with me before the situation becomes too messy."

…

Benny conveyed the message to Balalaika. Balalaika, in turn, appointed the police as friendly unit and ordered her Visotoniki to be of assistance to them in any way they could.

Then, in time with the complete destruction of the door, Balalaika heard distant gunshots and she knew that they were saved. A Visotoniki entered in and asked if they were all right. Three police officers were outside, ready for enemies.

When Balalaika went out of the room, a policeman told her to follow him.

…

The Mafiosi killed three of his men before his team could completely secure the twenty-fifth floor. He was mad with the turn of events. If only Robert Monroe was before him, he would strangle him to death. It was only thanks to the assistance of four Visotoniki snipers that he was still alive.

Doff Oleg gave him an earpiece transceiver. Oleg also briefed him with the current situation. He thanked the Visotoniki and established connection with Balalaika.

"Ms. Balalaika, this is Inspector Coleman, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Inspector?"

"I concede. This is my loss. Please free the hostages from the other building so that my men outside could reinforce our force. I know you already know the situation. We were both set up. I only agreed to this because my family is being held captive. You should not worry that I might betray you."

Balalaika did what he had requested of her. In a few minutes, Boris and his comrades rallied inside the Lewis building side by side with the New York Police, leaving the firefighters and medics to tend with their responsibilities.

…

Revy was grinning like a devil celebrating her victory over the angels. She was enjoying the smell of smoke and blood and the cries of men in pain and in the verge of death. The grunts of her enemies each time her bullets hit their aim sent shivers of excitement through her spine. This was what she was longing for—a true battle. The enemy was more than their number, that was for sure, and the only thing capable of balancing the scales was pure experience and skill. She and her allies had both. The police, like Balalaika told her, she hated to admit, was more than she had expected. Earlier she had thought that they were the ordinary lot she had fought with in the streets of Chinatown when she was a child, the cocky little weeds that ate the nourishment out of the common public who feared none but guns, the germs the government had need of disinfection. These with her were different. They were disciplined, and they knew how to fight the fair way. They didn't toy with their enemies as she did. They hit the head or the heart. She could win in a one-on-one match with one of them, but that would be very difficult.

She knew that there were a lot remaining downstairs, and she was already itching to face them. But that could wait. There were still a lot on this floor that were trying to stop Balalaika and this police team leader from meeting. She was just thankful that they knew nothing about _real_ gunfights.

Only two floors away. She shot out from the smoke screen one policeman had thrown. With fast, almost unbelievably quick hands, she slid using the carpet and gunned down enemies from six different rooms. The carpet formed waves and folded horizontally like spring, cushioning her as she reached the end of the hallway. Another hostile group came in from the hallway to her right. She unlatched her last grenade and hurled it to that group. They retreated fast. She pushed the magazines out of her guns, flipped up on her feet, and reloaded. Grinning, she pressed on the triggers until she had taken out every one of them. She reloaded again and walked on.

When they reached the twenty-fourth floor, she was surprised to see that their enemy had prepared for their entrance. They were waiting for them. As she showed herself, bullets came raining at her. Two grazed her face. The elevators were unoccupied and free for use. However, no one in his right mind would ride on one. However amateur the enemy is, they will not leave the elevators alone. With their number, they could accommodate every elevator in the building. (There were only four elevators for the whole building). In addition, they would not be able to employ the element of surprise provided by kicking a door open with elevators.

Since starting from the twenty-fourth floor, the owner dedicated the remaining rooms for special guests, the entrances to and exits from them were elegant lounges. In the center, there was a viewing room. Right now, thugs ready to shoot at whoever would enter occupied the balcony and the floor of the lounge in the twenty-fourth floor.

"Give me a grenade and a flashbang," Revy said.

"No. We will not barge in there, miss," Police Officer Michaels said. "From here on, we will need the chief's help." He held the small microphone on his face with his fingertips. "Inspector, we're on the twenty-fourth floor. The enemy is waiting for us. We cannot proceed. Please, send in backups…Okay. Thank you." He nodded at Balalaika. "We wait."

A few moments later, Revy heard gunshots inside. She was already itchy so she barged in, guns trained up, shooting at every live being she could catch inside her field of vision. Dutch called out for her, but he was too late. A lucky bullet went through her left shoulder. She didn't notice it. Another hit her right arm. She ignored it. She just pushed through until she got into the center. A man snuck behind her.

"You're mine," he said. He put his gun on her head.

She could have died if Balalaika had come to her aide a second too late. Balalaika shot the man dead, and then she punched her square in the face, making her stumble into a table. The vase on it crashed and was shattered on the floor. Balalaika collared her.

"Do you want to get killed that badly?"

"W-what?" Now, the pain of her wounds reached her senses. "Ow! I'm hit?"

"Shit." Balalaika pushed her away, annoyed at her. "Next time, I myself will put a lead in your brain."

She could only see the dead bodies of the Mafiosi. Balalaika, Dutch, and the police were already climbing up the stairs. The Visotoniki stayed to guard the place.

She forgot what had happened. The itch on her fingers had overshadowed her senses, making her think that she was invincible. She had even forgotten the presence of allies. Had they been inside her field of vision, she wouldn't have cared and just pulled the trigger. She inhaled a lungful of air and exhaled in her mouth. This cleared her mind a little.

_To be continued…_


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Negotiation

Revy grimaced as she climbed up the stair. Her tanktop was already drenched in blood. Dutch noticed this.

"Are you all right?"

Revy squinted at him. "What do you think?"

Dutch unzipped the first aid kit on his waist. "Come here."

Revy hesitated at first, but gave in as the pain escalated. She leaned on the railing. "I can't believe I was hit. Can't believe it."

"You're not superman."

Dutch began mending her wound. "You still have that bestial ferocity in you. I'm glad. I thought you'd be just another girl who happened to have guns."

"W-what do you mean?"

"You can't hide something from us."

"I think it's not the time to discuss something like that. We better focus on the matter at hand first."

"I didn't mean to pry. I just have an idea what it might be."

Revy whipped her head back to him.

Dutch secured her bandage with a small metal clamp and started to climb up. Revy stared at him.

Police Officer Michaels pushed the door of the twenty-fifth floor open. A tall man with balding head who was busy transmitting orders on his microphone caught Balalaika's attention. Officer Michaels said something to the tall man. The tall man turned to Balalaika. They stared at each other for a while.

"I'm Inspector Jefferson Coleman," he said, offering a shake.

Balalaika took his hand. "Call me Balalaika."

"I'm sure you've already grasped the situation. Monroe is not letting us go that easily. We need to cooperate to get out of here alive. We estimated about a hundred men were deployed to obstruct us."

"I know that, but let's make things clear first."

"Yeah, I know. Here," Coleman gave her the red box. "Monroe wanted you to have this."

Balalaika looked at the box. "What is this for?"

"I don't know. He only said that you should have this."

Balalaika got a transmission from Benny.

"I got a video from an unknown source. The instruction said to show it to you," Benny said.

"Okay, let me see it."

The large TV screen on the wall went to life. They saw a handsome middle-aged man on the screen.

"Good evening," the man said. "First of all, I want to congratulate you for your success. You have exceeded my expectations. I sent you this message to tell you what all of this was about. This little skirmish was a test of survival. I wanted to measure your tactical skills, and by taking hostages in the nearby building, forcing the good inspector to negotiate, you showed me what you're really made of. I'm glad that I was not wrong in choosing you.

"That red box contains your reward. You may choose what you want to do with it. I don't care. But if you want to meet me again, keep it, and explore what's inside. It will change many things for you. I hope to see you again."

The transmission ended and all that remained on the screen was white static.

"You'll have your day soon," Balalaika muttered.

"I will have you pay for this," Coleman said.

Balalaika smiled. "It seems that we have the same thoughts."

"The thing I hate the most is being played with. About the deal, as long as you deactivate the bombs, I don't have any reason to arrest you. If you do your end of the bargain, I will make this whole foolish event something that doesn't involve you."

"I'm using a detonator that can connect to the bombs a mile away. If you double cross us, many innocent people will die."

"I just want to get this over with. I don't have any plans of shooting you from behind. All I'm thinking now is how I will save my family."

"Then it's a deal." Balalaika offered a shake.

Coleman accepted it.

…

Rod Clintflaire was on his way to Claire. He was quiet in the back of the black car, watching as the scenery out the window flashed past his vision. Croner was motionless beside him. Rod reached out and put his hand on the driver's shoulder.

"Stop," he said. "It's too late."

The driver's face blanched. "Sir, they need our help!"

Rod shook his head. "It's too late."

The driver gaped at Rod. "Please reconsider, sir."

"I'm sorry but I feel it's a bad decision to continue."

The driver cursed under his breath. He rolled down the window, signaled the cars behind, and then he made a U-turn.

_This is growing big, _Rod thought. _I need to talk to the other directors._

To be continued…


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Clintflaire's Demand

After talking with Hidoshi, Rock went to the wide stair, now full of dust and concrete crumbs from the cracked ceiling. Nicole was wrapping bandage around Roberta's torso. Roberta was half-naked, the upper part of her maid's uniform down to her waist. The dim lighting did not render the complete appearance of her breasts, but their size was visible in silhouette. Rock accidentally glimpsed at them, believing that she was wearing something beneath her blue uniform. He slightly panicked, quickly turning around, unsure how to react.

"I-I'm sorry," Rock said. "I didn't mean to see."

Roberta's usually blank face registered uncertainty. With a look, she urged Nicole to hurry up, turning away a little to try to hide her body. Nicole did not know where to place Roberta's reaction. She looked at Roberta, inquiringly. Roberta held her gaze. Nicole took it as a pleading than a warning and went a little faster. She finished. Hastily, Roberta fixed herself and cleared her throat. She rubbed the remaining glass of her bifocal with the hem of her uniform's skirt. As she secured the bifocal on her nose ridge, she said:

"I apologize that I've appeared vulgar in front of you, Okajima-san."

Rock felt his spine straighten as if her voice induced current through it. "No, no. It was my mistake."

Roberta remained firm. "I promise not to be indiscreet again." She loudly beat at her skirt with her open palms to shake off dust even though there was none. "Again, I apologize."

Rock gulped. "If you must hit me, hit me. I think—" He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked behind him and—

Roberta slapped him so hard it left his ear ringing. Nicole cringed as if feeling the pain herself.

"Ooh," Nicole groaned. "That should hurt."

"I'm sorry I had to do that. I was so embarrassed."

Rock forced a smile, but it turned out looking goofy. He waved his hands in front of him as he said, "I think it was necessary."

Roberta nodded. Rock, with his eyes, asked Nicole what to do. Nicole opened her mouth, but the only thing that came off it was the sound of fast intake of air as Alesha suddenly poked her head, her white hair cascading over her face, out the basement door, yelling:

"Guys, in here!" Her call broke the tension. "I know how we can get out."

"Hidoshi just told me about a backdoor. Is that what you've found?" Rock said.

The excitement on Alesha's countenance vanished. "Hidoshi. So he knew."

"What?"

"Let's get going. I'll show you where it is."

"Wait," Nicole said. "We haven't been introduced, yet."

Alesha stared at her. After a few moments of consideration, she came out and faced her. She was now wearing white T-shirt, tight jeans, and boots, explicitly showing her excellent proportions and posture.

"I'm sorry. My name is Alesha Donovan." She offered her hand.

Nicole took it. "I'm Nicole Greene. Nice to meet you."

Alesha turned to Roberta, hand still raised. "Alesha Donovan."

Roberta took it and squeezed it. "Roberta."

Alesha faced Rock. "I think I don't need to get acquainted with you, anymore. I know you like the back of my hand." Rock did not react. Alesha faced the women. "Okay. Now that we're properly acquainted, let's go."

"Wait," Nicole said.

"What now?" Alesha asked.

"Only us?"

"What do you mean 'only us'? Of course, it's only us."

"Are we leaving the children?" Nicole asked this to Rock.

"They're in bad condition." Rock said. "Besides, Hidoshi said help is coming. They'll be here any minute."

"What if the enemy came first? Rock, I can't leave them alone. Please. We should at least wait until help arrives."

"That's the reason why Hidoshi and his companions are staying behind. Trust them."

"Miss Green, there's also the risk that Okajima-san and I will get in trouble if the police sees us. We are internationally wanted criminals," Roberta added.

"You will be a burden, anyhow, however deep is your concern for them," Alesha said.

"No. You don't understand what you're talking about. I'm staying." Nicole turned around and stomped away.

A blur of motion and Roberta was in front her. Roberta punched her in the stomach. She gaped at the pain; the punch drained her of strength. Her knees buckled and she fainted.

"I'm sorry," Roberta told Rock.

Rock shook his head. "Don't be. I would have done that myself. Give her to me."

Roberta heaved Nicole's limp body over her shoulder. "I'll carry her. It's the least I can do to make up to what I've done."

"You're injured."

"As you are. Please, Okajima-san."

It took Rock a moment to reply. "Okay."

"So? Let's go?" Alesha said.

Rock and Roberta nodded.

The stair looked dim because only the 10-watt emergency lights were on. But, the dead bodies that Roberta had left behind were still visible in the semi-darkness. Roberta's eyes were burning with cold flame. In that place, her earlier captivity forced her to use a method she would have never used otherwise to escape if she had had a choice. She didn't understand why it now mattered to her so much. In her younger years, it could have been just a normal method. Her eyes trailed off towards Rock's wide back.

Rock glanced at her over his shoulder. "Is she heavy?"

Roberta was startled. "Huh? What was that?"

Alesha pinched Rock on his side.

"Ow!"

"Even though I don't like her much, it's not polite to ask that of a lady."

"I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just concerned about Roberta."

Roberta felt the beginning of panic. Her heart rate slightly increased.

"You could have just said 'Are you okay?' or 'Won't you really change your mind?'" Alesha said.

"Okay, fine." He turned to Roberta. "If you're tired or your injury starts to hurt, tell me, okay?"

Roberta avoided his eyes. "Sure." Unexpectedly, she stepped on a large pebble on a step and lost her balance. She tried to regain it, but Nicole's weight made it harder for her. Rock got to her side, lifted Nicole off her shoulder, and hooked his free arm around her waist. She felt her ears getting hot, and there was no way of denying that embarrassment caused the reddening of her face. Her face was so close to Rock. Roberta pinched Rock's arms off her. "I'm all right, thank you. I don't want to think that you're taking advantage of me, and it's not that I'm new to it since Master Garcia has tried naughty things to me before. However, it's not morally acceptable for a man a girl doesn't have a relationship with to be overly intimate with her. Please keep that in mind." She straightened up. "Since you're that concerned about me, I might as well grant what you wished."

Rock could just gape as she walked past him.

Alesha noticed something in Roberta's actions, but she decided to keep quiet about it. Rock, on the other hand, fixed Nicole on his back piggyback style.

They reached the basement. The door of the room where Roberta had been imprisoned earlier lay ajar. She felt her hair standing up on its end while looking at it. She looked away and gritted her teeth. In front of them, a junction.

"There's an elevator, right turn, but power is too low," Alesha said. "We take the stairs. Pick up some weapons."

"Would you mind, Roberta?" Rock said. He indicated that he couldn't bend over because Nicole was on his back.

Roberta threw him a ferocious look. Rock flinched. She went to the dead thugs, rummaged for a gun and some ammo for Rock and herself, came back, and handed over one pistol to him.

Rock gingerly collected the gun from her hand. "Thanks."

Alesha cocked her pistol. "You two are seasoned fighters so you already know what to expect. Roberta and I will cover the front, you stay behind us, you understand?"

Rock nodded and they were off. They spent the whole fifteen-minute climb up the stair in silence.

They emerged into a large tunnel fifteen meters in diameter. Wastewater flowed down a wide canal that branched out into a T in the distance. Dim golden lighting cased in rectangular wire mesh poorly illuminated the place. The place stank of human excretions.

"This way," Alesha said. She started walking towards the direction of the canal intersection. "This place used to be my playground when I was younger. I won't lose my way here even in darkness."

Ten minutes passed. Alesha turned into a narrow alleyway. They emerged into a large wide space that was completely dark.

"I can't sense any presence," Alesha said. "Wait here." Alesha ran into the darkness.

Rock stood still, not relying on the silence of the place. Roberta's eyes were closed. In the distance, on the ceiling, a blue speck of light glowed. Rock heard a fast transition of single beeps in the stillness. He was sure the blue light came from a keypad. Then there was a loud hissing and groaning of metals. A line of white light appeared on the ceiling. It grew in width and finally ended up being a big, square hole. Its size was enough to accommodate a car. The light of the moon rushed in, revealing an inclined pavement.

"Come on!" Alesha mouthed, beckoning them forward.

Roberta and Rock ran crouching, pistols ready at their sides. They stopped at the top of the pavement and nodded at Alesha. Alesha nodded back.

"Okay, let's go," Alesha muttered.

Rock remained behind. Alesha and Roberta came out from the hole, quickly moving into position, arms extended, eyes extremely alert for movements. Alesha sprinted towards a column. Roberta did the same but towards the opposite direction. They waited.

They were inside an empty building. The light of the moon entered through a long set of small windows twelve feet high. The ventilation fan slowly rotated on its axle. It was cold.

Alesha whistled twice, calling for Rock. Rock came out from the opening.

"I guess there's no one—" Alesha cut herself. It was unmistakable. There was someone in there.

Roberta was instantly in front of Rock, killer's eyes glaring. However, Rock was already on the move. He put Nicole down and went for who it might be behind the darkness. He was fast.

"Okajima-san!" Roberta called out, but, abruptly, she became distracted by an incoming danger. She turned about and raised her gun. She saw a bullet hole on the floor just beside Nicole's face.

The sound of the shot stopped Rock on his tracks.

"Yes, that's the wise thing to do." Rod Clintflaire came out from behind a column and faced them. He had his hat on. He was wearing a black trench coat and holding onto the tip of his cane. He was black, making his dangerous eyes more prominent under the silver light of the moon. "I can take you on, but you won't be able to protect them. Snipers surround this place."

Rock held the point of his pistol at Rod's face. "I can kill you—"

"You won't try, I know. Bluffs are pointless, Mr. Cold Knife. Those people are important to you, don't they?"

A beat and then Roberta dashed to grab Nicole. However, before she could succeed, a bullet went through her right upper arm.

Rock stood still. He was thinking. The glint of the moon was like blade in his eyes.

Rod matched that glare with his own fearsome eyes. "One more wrong move, your sleeping beauty will die."

They had stared off for a couple of seconds more before Rock threw his gun away. He raised his hand and Alesha lowered her pistol. "What do you want?"

Rod grinned. "Before anything else let me introduce myself. I'm Rod Clintflaire, one of the Black Arms Society's Board of Directors. I'm in-charge of an upcoming transaction we will have with the American Mafia's McLennard Court. I'm here for the disk Nicole stole from us. Just the disk. I know you have it, and you know what significance it has for her and for us. However, I assure you that for her it will only serve as her father's keepsake, nothing more, while for us it will ensure peace in the whole New York City. Compared to what she has already done, this is too humble a price for her to pay."

"If I give you the disk, will you leave her alone?"

"I will leave her alone."

"That means she will not be entirely safe."

"Listen, Mr. Cold Knife. Black Arm Society is a large, powerful group. Nicole did something without regard to its consequence. The entire organization already had knowledge of this. They have been really itching to make a move, but I told them I'd handle this myself. If you give me the disk, I will give you enough time to escape. That's the best I can do."

"How can I trust you?"

"I know you can't, but you should."

"Give me time."

Rod grinned. "I understand. The transaction will take place two weeks from now. I need the disk two days before the date. A day later, the deal is off. You know what will happen afterwards. And keep this in mind. When we do things, we do things _thoroughly_. I don't care who they are as long as they have been with you. Remember that."

"I understand."

"Good. Oh, by the way, I have to thank you for the job well done. Claire is not my jurisdiction so I can't really touch it. I wanted to crush this branch myself. Thank you."

Rock snorted. "I never thought you'd think of destroying a profitable business yourself."

"I had saved lives before as a soldier. I can tolerate helping people who _want_ to destroy themselves, but I can't stand destroying the innocence of children." A pause. "I'll contact you before the deadline."

"I'll be waiting."

When he was sure Rod was gone, Rock sprinted towards Roberta. He knelt beside her. Seeing her wound, he ripped the sleeve of his shirt. "Let's stop the bleeding." He noticed that Roberta had already wrapped her arm with a part of her skirt. It had been a bad job.

"I'm okay," Roberta said. She pushed herself up against the column. Blood trickled on the floor. "Go to Nicole."

"I got her," Alesha said. She was beside Nicole.

"Roberta, you're not okay," Rock said.

"I'm okay—"

Rock pulled her left arm to make her sit. Roberta's butt hit the concrete with a thump. Rock quickly started wrapping her wound.

"This is not a big deal. I'm okay."

"You're not. You might be an assassin and you're used to these kinds of wounds, but you can't tell me you're okay when I know you're not."

"I don't want your help! I can take care of myself! I don't want to burden you more than I already do! Do you understand that?"

Rock put pressure on the makeshift bandage. Roberta let out a soft cry. "The hell with what you think! You're wounded and I can do something about it. That's all I think about."

"I will not be able to repay your kindness. I don't want that feeling."

"Then pay me with what you can. Hell, pay with your body for all I care!"

Alesha threw a rock at his head.

Rock looked over his shoulder. "What was that about?"

Alesha glared at him. "Mind your words, asshole."

"What?"

"Hmph!"

Grunting, he turned back at Roberta. He secured the end of the cloth in place. "There—"

Roberta collared him and pulled him into a kiss. Rock's eyes widened in surprise. Roberta deepened the kiss until Rock could barely breathe. Alesha was in shock.

"I know it's not enough, but please be patient," Roberta said. "I need to prepare myself for the remaining balance."

Rock could only stare as she stood up and walked away. Slowly, he returned his gaze to the column where Roberta had been leaning. Still in shock, he looked up at the ceiling and asked, "What the hell was that?"

To be continued…


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27: End of a Long Night

When the elevator opened, the paramedics were waiting with expectant faces outside. They had a gurney beside them.

"Here, sir," the female paramedic said. Her nameplate bore the name "Reese."

Dutch was reluctant.

"We've got her medical record, sir," said the other. This one was male named Martin. "We have blood in the van."

"Benny?" Dutch said.

"That the blonde's name? Yeah. He handed it to us. He already told us about her injury."

Dutch laid Revy on the gurney with Reese's assistance. Reese immediately secured an oxygen mask on Revy's face.

"I'll come with you," Dutch said.

"Come. She needs someone of this world to hold her hand. You're her guardian?" Martin replied.

"You could say that."

They rolled Revy into the ambulance. Looking around, Dutch saw the crowd outside. Firefighters, police, and busybodies. Reese quickly popped an IV pack in Revy's hand and a blood pack in her arm.

"Let's roll, Martin!" Reese shouted.

The ambulance was off with an initial acceleration of eighty KPH. A black car parked at another building followed them.

They reached a crossing. The traffic light flashed red. Martin slowed down but he did not plan to stop. It was just precaution. Suddenly, a black van cut in front of them. Martin hit the brake to the floor. Tires screeched, momentum slightly lifting the butt of the ambulance.

"Martin, what the fuck is happening?" Reese bellowed.

"A van—shit, armed men are coming towards us!"

"What? This is a fucking ambulance, for Christ's sake!"

Three big men got off from the van. One came over to Martin's side, opened the door, yanked Martin out of the ambulance, and got inside.

"Hey, what the hell's wrong with you? We have a patient here!" Reese said.

"Take care of her, captain," the man said.

Dutch realized what was happening.

"You knew him?" Reese asked Dutch, flabbergasted.

The backdoor of the ambulance opened. Dutch recognized Serafin, one of Hotel Moscow, standing outside with a silenced gun on his side. The black car that had been following them idled behind Serafin. Serafin raised his gun at Reese.

Dutch grabbed Serafin's hand. "No. We don't need unnecessary commotion here."

"There _is_ already a commotion."

Dutch pushed Serafin's hand away. "Reese, right? You had better get off or you'll die."

Reese looked at Revy, and then back at Dutch, again. "Be gentle with her."

"Count on it."

Reese threw a baleful look at Serafin. Serafin glared back.

"Let's go, Serafin," Dutch said. Serafin went into the black car. "Reese. Thanks a lot."

Reese, her bravado gone, nodded. Dutch closed the door and they were off.

Busybodies came out from around the corners, curious and murmuring to themselves.

Reese's blood boiled. "Are all the people here idiots?" She was shivering.

Martin went to her side and gave her a hug.

Later, the police would find the ambulance abandoned two miles from the street intersection.

…

Balalaika and Coleman fought side by side. It was undoubtedly a small war. Gunshots and explosions were all there was to hear, powder and blood to smell, and murder intent and tension to feel. With the damage, the repairs would take months to finish.

"The SWAT is arriving soon. They will surely misunderstand. You should tell your men downstairs to escape while there's still time," Coleman said. "Police surround this place. I'll make sure no enemy gets through. Use our cars in the basement parking. Two black SUVs, single-number plate."

Balalaika understood. "Comrades, listen. Units that have a clear path of escape, retreat. Cars in the basement parking, single-number plate, black SUVs."

A minute after, two four-wheel drives shot out from the basement parking to join the night. The troops at the border let them through, thinking that they were the NYPD Special Assault Division.

"The lower floors are clean of my troops except for communications," Balalaika said.

"I see," Coleman replied.

An incoming call. Benny said, "I got it! I determined the channel the enemy is using to communicate. There is a source at room eighteen- eighteen that produces radio waves considerably longer than the others do. It must be the one giving instructions. Try it. Room eighteen-eighteen."

"Good work," Balalaika said. "We're on it."

"Another thing. Put out your HHC." HHC stands for Hand-Held Computer.

"Okay."

"I synchronized with you. What I see on my laptop, you can see on your HHC. I assigned different colors for each channel each group uses. Red for the enemy, blue for us, green for the police. You can see one floor at a time. Navigate with the touch-screen. When radio is turned-off, the dots disappear. If not, even if the owner is dead, the dots will still show. The dots will pulsate when radio waves is produced and received. Tell the police don't change channels."

"Now you push the decisive move. Checkmate is at hand," Balalaika said, pleased. "Do you have anyone there?"

"Boris is here. He relieved the ones guarding me earlier."

"Listen, you two should leave. Boris, pick me up at rendezvous forty-four."

"Hey, what are you saying? I'll stay until it's over."

"You've done enough. It's an order."

Benny looked at Boris. Boris nodded.

"Okay," Benny said. "Be careful."

Benny and Boris left the monitoring room. An officer under Coleman met them outside and ushered them to a car.

…

Rey, the one Monroe assigned to lead, paced inside the room. He would sit but quickly stood up again, relentlessly asking for response from his men. They became silent one by one. Fear was strangling his confidence.

He heard a response. The respondent spoke very fast. "Get out of there! They're coming for you!"

"What?" He pressed his earpiece until his fingers turned white. "Hello? Hello? Talk, goddammit!"

The door was kicked open. Every hole on his face seemed to expand. Balalaika entered in and threw a corpse at his feet.

"I want to kill you but the police needs you alive," she said.

Coleman and the two Visotonikis waited at the door.

Rey cursed under his breath and threw his gun away. "This is not the last time you'll see of me."

"Do you think I care?" Balalaika said.

"PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN NOW!" The SWAT came rushing from both sides of the corridor.

"Shit!" Coleman hissed. He tossed Balalaika a pair of handcuffs. "Lock him up. The SWAT is here. I'll handle this."

Six officers of SWAT surrounded them in the hallway, guns high on their shoulders, nozzles dead straight pointing at them. One officer spoke into his mouthpiece and a minute after, the teams' operations head, Thomas Bale, came.

"Tom," Coleman said.

"We're getting this off your shoulders, Jeff. Your men are downstairs." To his men, "Arrest them."

Balalaika and her Visotoniki stayed calm. Coleman moved to block the advancing officers.

"It's a very bad idea, Tom, trust me," he said.

"What you're doing is the bad idea. Move, Jeff, before I forget who you are."

"Tom—"

"Move!"

Coleman couldn't reply. However, as one officer came to cuff Balalaika, Coleman pulled his gun out and put its nozzle on the officer's neck.

"Look, Tom, my family is in grave danger. I need to let these people go or my family dies. I know you're just doing your job, but I'm doing mine, too, as a father. Please, Tom. I'll take full responsibility."

Tom considered. Then, he said, "The bomb squad wouldn't budge even though I told them to. They said you ordered them not to touch the bombs, but they didn't know why. Now I want to know why."

"Some of the bombs are atomic. She left them there for insurance if ever something like this would happen. She claimed it could pulverize everything within a radius of eight hundred meters."

"That's bullshit." Tom looked at Balalaika's confident expression.

"I don't care if that's bullshit or not. I'll do anything for my family, Tom, and that's the truth."

Bale sighed. "I need you to explain everything to me after this, okay. Now, release him."

"I need you to promise me not as a co-officer, but as a friend. Promise me no tricks, Tom."

"Okay. I promise. I can't take chances, anyhow. This bitch has already demonstrated her ruthlessness. It's not safe to conclude things."

"Thank you."

"Tell Marjorie that we'll visit Sunday. Timmy wants her strawberry cake and roasted turkey, do you understand?"

"Sure. Count on it. Hey, what will you tell the director?"

"We got the terrorists. Sixty-three dead, thirty-one alive. He won't ask questions with this many collars in a single night. Now, move your ass out of here before I change my mind."

Coleman smiled.

…

The black van pulled up behind a group of high-class cars parked at the curb near the woods. Balalaika got off, handed a piece of paper to Coleman, and went to an elegant Mercedes. The black van went towards the direction it had come from as the group of cars speeded away.

Back at the building after Coleman had given the deactivation procedure, Bale asked one of the bomb squad.

"I'm sure it was a bluff. How is it?"

"It's uranium, sir. Old formula but the mass could have destroyed properties within five to ten hundred meter radius."

Bale touched his forehead, blanching. He felt his knees getting weak.

…

When he got home, Coleman saw a box of cake on the table. On the card was written, "Good job, chief—M."

Marjorie came running down the stairs. Coleman, delighted to see her, embraced her in his arms and kissed her like he had never done before. Marjorie looked at him with a frown.

"Where is this coming from?" she asked.

"Are the kids asleep?"

"Upstairs."

Coleman smiled, playfully. "Then it's okay."

"Take a shower first. You stink."

Coleman swept Marjorie off her feet and carried her to the bathroom. They made love in the bathtub while water showered them from the showerhead.

To be continued…


	28. Chapter 28

**Part 2: ** Bullet Factory

Chapter 28: Alesha and Her Target

Rock led the way out of the abandoned building. A black car was waiting for them outside. The driver smoked on the hood. Rock frowned at the sight.

The driver looked up. "There you are."

"Who are you?" Rock asked.

"Mr. Clintflaire told me to provide transportation for you. You need medical assistance and rest, but you can't go to a hospital."

Rock didn't reply.

"Look, I know you don't trust me, but I'm just following instructions. It's your choice." He opened his coat to show his waist. "I don't have a gun or anything."

Rock searched the driver's face for any trace of untruth. He looked at the girls.

"I'm just an ordinary chauffeur. Not one of them. I mean you no harm, honest."

"Tell me where you are planning to take us."

"To a small village sixteen miles from here. Only I and Mr. Clintflaire know of the place. You are safe there."

"Why is he doing this?"

The driver shrugged. "Beats me. I'm just doing what he told me. Come on. It's getting very cold out here." He rubbed his upper arms.

"Let's go, Rock. We can kill him if he pulls something underhanded," Alesha said.

"Let's not go to that, miss. I still have a family to feed."

"All right. Clintflaire needs me alive anyway," Rock said.

The driver flicked away his cigarette and opened the doors for them. Rock sat on the passenger seat. The driver went in and they drove off. It was a silent ten-minute drive, the moon not letting them out its sight. They entered an arc announcing "Welcome to Miriam Ville" and pulled up in front of a two-storey house.

"Here we are," the driver said.

They went out and the driver rang the bell. An elderly lady opened the door. "Granny, they are Mr. Clintflaire's friends. They need a place for a day or two." He produced a wad of cash from his pocket and gave it to the elderly lady. "Make them feel at home."

The elderly lady accepted the money. "Say hi to Rod for me."

"Okay." The driver turned to Rock. "You can go anytime you like. The upper floor is all yours."

"Thank you."

"Just doing my job. Gotta go now." The driver lit a cigarette. He went back to the car and drove off.

"Call me Granny as what everybody calls me. Come on in," Granny said, opening the door wide for them. She took them to the second floor. "This is yours until you feel like leaving. I don't care no matter how noisy you are. Just don't disturb me when I watch TV, seven to eight every evening. That's all I'm asking you. I cook and with this money I can provide you a decent meal up to five times a day."

"Where can we find medical supplies here, Granny?" asked Rock.

"I'm an RN. You go and clean yourself while I go out and buy you some change of clothes and food. I know you're hungry. I'll go tend to your wounds later. The bathroom is downstairs. Help yourself. Things are easy to find here."

"Thank you."

Granny took a look at each of them. She shook his head. "You better stay away from Rod. You don't know how dangerous that motherfucker is. God, forgive me for cursing."

"Don't worry about it, Granny."

"I can't help it. Police curl their tails between their legs just from hearing his name." Granny sighed. "I'll be right back."

…

"There are two rooms. Who stays with whom?" Alesha asked.

"We have a lot to talk about so you stay with me," Rock said.

"A lot to talk about or are you just saying that?"

Rock frowned at her. "What are you talking about?"

A smile curled on Alesha's lips. "You know."

"Don't get any ideas, Alesha." He went behind her and got Nicole. Roberta opened the door for him. Rock went in and laid Nicole down the bed. "Roberta, go down and take a bath. You need to wash your wound."

"You have more wounds than I."

"The bullet grazed one of your big arteries. When Granny comes back, you see her first. My wounds have already stopped bleeding."

Roberta nodded.

"Alesha, let's go."

As he opened the other room, Rock groped for a pack of cigarettes in his breast pocket and found none. "I'll go and buy some cigarettes," he told Alesha.

"I'll go with you. We can talk on the way," Alesha said. "My heart is still racing from excitement. This room will kill me."

…

Rock walked alongside Alesha in the cold of dawn. The fog was thick enough to make the lights almost useless. These lights came from a few windows or from houses with owners afraid enough to make sure a light bulb burned until sunrise outside their houses. Alesha was hugging herself and keeping only a small distance from Rock. Rock walked as if the low temperature didn't affect him.

"It's so cold," she said.

Rock glanced at her. "You should have stayed in the house."

"Don't worry about me."

"I have the right to worry since starting this day you're under my custody."

"I'm fine." Alesha tried to straighten her arms to show him.

"You don't need to pretend." Rock hooked an arm around her and began rubbing her ear with his fingers. "We did this a lot when we were on winter missions. Usually, we were forced to stay in the woods or in some place without people to see us. Some of my team mates, who hadn't taken training seriously, lost a finger or a toe or even freeze to death. Leopold taught me this. Feeling better now?"

"Yeah. Can I put an arm around you?"

Rock cocked an eyebrow.

"It's not what you're thinking, okay."

"I'm not thinking anything."

"So can I?"

Rock sighed. "You should have stayed in the house. Now I wish you did."

Alesha put an arm around his waist and they walked like a couple in silence for a while.

"Now tell me your story," Rock said.

"May I ask a question first?"

"Sure."

"Don't you remember me?"

"What do you mean 'remember you'? We just met today."

"No. Dr. Donovan brought me to the Kutzmann Lab when I was eight. We first met there."

"I'm sorry but I don't remember."

"You were sixteen that time and training for a mission. Dr. Kutzmann was not there."

"I really don't remember."

"How come? They said that you had a very high IQ."

"I don't know. I guess information doesn't store itself automatically in my brain like other people with high IQs do. I still remember people or things that I paid attention to, like my targets or the details of my operations. Maybe we didn't meet face to face."

"We did. You were looking at me with your cold eyes that time. I remember hiding myself behind Dr. Donovan."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you. I don't remember our meeting that time."

Alesha sighed. "You were just uninterested in me. Anyway, I was a test tube baby. I don't know where my true parents are, but I don't care about them. Dr. Donovan had been my guardian since the day I made my first cry. He told me that I started to walk when I was only six months and learned how to speak when I was nine months old. From then on, Dr. Donovan began teaching me. I was one year and two months old when I mastered the alphabet. When I was three years old I already knew three different languages. At the age of eight, the age when I met you, I already was a black belt in two different martial arts and studying Einstein's Theory of Relativity. After our meeting, the course of my studies changed. Dr. Donovan began training me in the art of assassination. You know what? I already had my first target. I would have left for Chicago two weeks from now if you didn't come and destroyed the lab."

"Sorry to burst your bubble."

"Do you want to know who my target was?"

"If you like to tell me."

"Frederica Holien."

Rock stopped walking, his features grim. "Say the name again."

"Frederica Holien."

"So Leopold was not lying."

"What?"

"Nothing." Rock forced a smile. "You know, while you're still clean, you should not even think about killing somebody."

"Too late. I already killed a few."

Rock sighed. "That's a pity. From what you told me, you could have been a NASA scientist or maybe an actress. You've the three Bs: beauty, brains, and brawn."

"You mean body."

"Yeah, I'm sorry." A convenient store was just a few paces away from them. "Later, tell me about Nicole."

_To be continued…_


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29: A Last Attempt

The cashier looked up from the Playboy magazine he was reading and watched Rock and Alesha go between the aisles. Usually, with their dirty clothing, he should have perked up, pulled his legs down from the counter, and groped for his pistol in the cash drawer, but the beautiful appearance of the two only told that Rock and Alesha was a rich couple roughed up on the street by typical crackheads who needed a sniff or two. Relieved of his first concern over customers, he shifted his attention on Alesha. He wished one of these days that the girl got broke, became desperate, and be forced to pose for Playboy for a few bucks. He would definitely treasure a copy. He glared at Rock, but he could only sigh. Soft Asian features, hard chest, a flat stomach, and a straight back good enough for modeling. Their children would surely be cherubic.

As Alesha inspected cartons of oatmeal, the light reflected off of something in her hair. Rock caught the glint and suspicion gripped him. He had been curious how Clintflaire had known that they would be using the back door. Now he knew. Whether Alesha was aware or not, he would find out later. Right now, he got a bad feeling about it. He went to the vice section and picked out three packs of Rhino. Rock went to the cashier and paid for it with his credit card.

"Take your time. I'll be waiting outside. My card's with the cashier," he said. "There is a no smoking sign at the door."

"Okay," Alesha said.

Rock became wary of the surrounding. It was too late now. If he had pulled out the device in Alesha's hair and Alesha was with the enemy, it would just create problems. He lit a cigarette and blew some smoke, his eyes shooting at every direction. The place was quiet for a while until he heard the groans of engines.

"Shit," he muttered. He entered in with the cigarette still in his mouth.

The cashier saw this. "Sir, please no smoking inside." Rock glared at him and he fell off his chair. "Jesus Christ." He looked down to look for his pistol, but it was a bad decision. Rock was instantly in front of him.

"Any weapons you can lend me?"

The cashier yelped and tossed the 9MM he had been keeping inside the drawer.

"And please turn off the lights."

"Rock, what is happening?" Alesha approached with two boxes of milk and seven chocolate bars in her arms. When Rock looked at her, she made an involuntary step back.

"We got company."

"What?"

"Turn off the lights, please," he told the cashier again. The cashier rushed for the switch and pulled the breaker down. Darkness engulfed the convenient store. "Now, listen to me, wait at the back or anywhere where you can be safe. I'll pay for the damage that's gonna happen to your store."

"What are you talking about, sir?"

"Did you see someone from the brotherhood?" Alesha asked. "We should have brought our guns. Shit, they sure are annoying. I thought that Clintflaire would leave us alone."

"Here," Rock said, giving the 9MM to Alesha. "I have my daggers." That said, Rock crouched down and pulled the daggers out from the sheaths on his legs. "I think the doctor is just repaying the brotherhood some of his debts."

"What? What are you saying?"

Rock smiled and messed her hair. "I'm relieved you don't know anything about it."

Alesha drew back. "I don't understand you."

"You stay here. I'll handle this."

Alesha wanted to say that she would go with him, but this was a rare chance for her to see for herself how strong Rock was. "Okay." She was red with excitement and thankful that there was no light to show it.

Rock stood up and walked to the door. He lit another cigarette. As one of the cars pulled up a few meters from the store, the moon peeked behind the clouds and illuminated his face. Goosebumps grew on Alesha's skin when she saw the infamous countenance of Cold Knife: a face devoid of life, a mask of death, more terrible than the grinning devil.

Other lights in the neighborhood were switched off, too. Yeah. People in Miriam Ville could sniff trouble.

…

Stewart Johnson, a short black man, hauled his big butt out of his Jaguar. Twenty five men from five other cars were already out in the cold. All of them, including him, had submachine guns with ammos in plates, supply of bullets enough to last a minute of nonstop shooting. He was the boss of the Clair Branch. Now, he was just an ordinary street gangster, stripped of the gold and glamour he had once possessed. There was only one thing in his mind: destroy the intruders.

"If you want to go back, kill them," Clintflaire had instructed him. "If you can't, or won't, I'll kill you myself. This is business. Don't think badly of me."

"Fucking bastard," Johnson muttered. He looked at the convenience store in front of him. There was no light. "Hey, Ed, are you sure the signal is coming from there?"

"Yeah. It's not moving," Edward said.

"Damn. The bitch might have noticed the bug."

"Boss, look. There is someone over there. Let's go ask."

Johnson looked up and saw the silhouette of a man. The man was smoking a cigarette. In the thickening mist, breath and smoke looked the same.

Ed started for the man. "I'll go."

"Switch your radio on."

"Okay." And he went on. "Hey, mind if I…?" Ed wiggled a stick of cigarette in front of Rock.

Johnson heard Ed's hideous scream both from his earpiece and from where he had gone. He grew nervous. "Hello? Ed? Ed? Hello! Shit!"

Static from Johnson's radio. "Hello?" The voice was cold, but ripples of enjoyment could be discerned if the ears were careful, only it was so subtle that Johnson missed it.

"What did you do to Ed, you motherfucker?"

"Same as what I'll do to you."

"Fucking bastard! Shoot! Shoot!" Johnson made the first squeeze on his gun, and bullets rained at the convenient store. His men, out of surprise, did what their boss was doing. The glass erupted into shards. The wall and the pavement were as if pecked by hundreds of miniature meteorites.

Alesha ran behind the farthest corner of the room, excited by the prospect of being shot at and escaping the bullets like a hero in a graphic novel. Only that it was possible in her situation. The shelves were made of steel and long. She would only be hit by a lucky bullet or its ricochet. While she was enjoying it, the cashier had already pissed his pants and was crying silly inside the mops' closet.

The shooting stopped. Johnson was sure that anyone fooling around the convenient store would be dead by now. He signaled his men to approach.

The screams came one by one like notes off a piano hit by quivering fingers. Johnson involuntarily stopped. "Guys?" The screams went on. The fog and the darkness cooperated with each other to hide what was happening, visually. Johnson didn't notice it, but he had been stepping back and now the cold metal skin of his car was nudging his big butt. Before going inside, he squeezed the trigger and sprayed around rounds, hoping for a lucky hit. He was unaware of it, but he did the opposite of what he had intended to do. He killed his own man. He closed the passenger door of his car. "Frank, let's get out of here."

"Yes, sir."

It wasn't Frank and as he was turning around to look, a knife impaled his hand and stuck it on the dashboard. Johnson screamed and it was the scream of someone who had known pain for the first time. The submachine gun clattered on the floor.

"How does it feel? A lot of girls have told me that they'd rather be stabbed by a knife than to repeat the pain of losing their virginity. Well?"

"W-what do you want? Do you want money? Oh, I know. I have a private collection of beautiful whores in my house. They're first class. I know that every man has his fantasy of fucking a pretty young girl. I got a ten-year old if you like. Oh, I know. My daughter is pretty, she's fourteen. Just let me live, please, I'll give them to you, and I'll never bother you again."

"What's your address?"

Johnson felt some kind of relief on hearing that, and he happily told his assailant his address. "Yes, they are good children. They will obey your every command. You will not regret this."

"I'm a pretty cautious guy when it comes to these things so I want to close the deal someplace I know."

"I'll do everything for my life."

His assailant brought Johnson on top of the highest building in Miriam Ville. Johnson shivered when the wind blew past him.

"What are we doing here?" Johnson asked.

"Closing our deal."

A knife clattered at Johnson's feet. "What is this?"

"In exchange for your life, I want you to cut your genitals and eat them."

Johnson was horrified. "What? Are you crazy?"

"The blade is at your feet. Feel free."

What the man was asking him was just the craziest request he had ever heard in his life. Cut his genitals and eat them? Not only was that the greatest humiliation a man could experience, it was also the most painful wound a man would have to endure. Johnson picked the knife up with a trembling hand. "Why are you doing this?"

"You're asking me why? It's not even enough as vengeance for what you did to those innocent children. I don't understand. Why does God permit people like you to live? Why does it have to be a demon doing the clean-up?" Rock approached and circled Johnson. "Why do people like you act as if you are God Himself, capable of doing anything?"

Desperate now and too afraid to make a move, Johnson laughed. "What's wrong with enjoying your life? What is a little greed for flesh? I gave those children food, shelter, everything they needed. I've not been a good man, I can admit to that. I needed compensation, and what compensation was more suitable than something I would enjoy." He laughed again and its sound was hideous. "This world is give and take. That is a universal law to us humans. As long as you're not the only one living on earth, you need to abide that law. It's always give and take. I did no wrong—" He shrieked as pain seared through his body. Rock had just stabbed his back.

"I promise not to be a professional this time. I was trained to suppress emotion, but now I can't suppress the anger I feel. You will have a slow and painful death."

Johnson screamed as Rock cut his hand off.

"Now—"

Johnson suddenly sprawled on the cold floor, a bullet hole on his forehead. Then the phone in his pocket rang.

Rock picked it up. "Hello?"

"I'll take care of it, Cold Knife."

"Clintflaire."

"Well, they won't listen to me. Serves them right. Take a rest and thank you."

"I want to ask you if you used Alesha to track us down."

"She is now officially denounced as a member of the brotherhood. She didn't know anything about the bug. Take care, now." The line was cut.

Rock stared at the cellphone for a long time before crushing it and walking back to the convenient store. He stopped by a payphone on his way back and told the police the address of Stewart Johnson and the details about his violation.

…

Back at Granny's house, Roberta was talking to someone on the phone. "Yes. He's with me. I'll call back after two days, enough for us to recuperate…I'm sorry. I'll call back after two days, goodbye."

_To be continued…_


End file.
